Jan Werner MullerThinkers

Populism is a distinctly moral way to imagine the political world and necessarily involves the claim to exclusive moral representation.

Populism is a kind of anti-institutionalism that is said to dislike representation and opt instead for direct democracy (an arena in which the majority will prevail).

Populism is a political logic placing emphasis on a singular common good that is clearly comprehensible to common sense and capable of being articulated as a singularly correct policy that can be collectively willed.

Populism is a political logic which, rather than implying 'we are the 99 percent' claims 'we are the 100 percent'... that is to say, those who do not support them are not a proper part of 'the people'.

Populism is an exclusionary form of identity politics that tends to pose a danger to democracy.

Populism is an illiberal democratic response to undemocratic liberalism. That is, it is a threat but also as a potential corrective for a politics that has somehow become too distant from 'the people'.

Populism is at root, a moralized form of anti-pluralism which states that 'the people' should exclusively be 'one' and that it should have one true representative.

Populism is, in Europe, used interchangeably by commentators with 'demagoguery' and is connected with irresponsible policies or various forms of political pandering.

Populism is much like a drunken guest at a dinner party... he's rude, inappropriate, flirtatious, offensive, but he might also be blurting out the truth about a liberal democracy that has become forgetful about its founding ideal of popular sovereignty.

Populism is said to be inherently hostile to the mechanisms and, ultimately the values commonly associated with constitutionalism: Restraints on the will of the majority, checks and balances, protections for minorities, and even fundamental rights.

Populism is a political mode that requires that one be speaking in the name of the people as a whole.

Populism is supposedly impatient with procedures and said to be against institutions as such, preferring a direct, unmediated relationship between the personal leader and the people.

Populism is the pernicious political idea that we move nearer to democracy by pitting a 'silent majority', which supposedly is being ignored by elites, against elected politician.