demagogue

occupation / innovator as

sociologist

university teacher

scientific organization

American Academy of Arts and Sciences

political scientist

nationality

German

is a figure unique to democracies insofar as free speech, free expression, and rhetoric are essential components of demagoguery.

It should be no surprise that demagoguery has been seen, from time to time, in the United States, because democratic government seems to be one of the prerequisities without which demagoguery cannot operate. A demagogue can only succeed in an atmosphere of free speech and free expression, since, as noted earlier, demagoguery is intimately bound up with rhetoric. In the Twentieth Century, especially, the demagogue has only been successful when he had a foundation of democracy upon which to build, and a democratic platform from which to speak (Neumann 236).

Sigmund NeumannThinkers

Sigmund Neumann