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Abstract
The difficulty of defining populism is well-known. As populism lacks a fully articulated ideological foundation, it tends to assume different shapes according to context. Due to this ideological inarticulation, some scholars have rejected the so-called ideational approach to populism. They instead propose its conceptualization as a political style or discourse. This paper advances an alternative approach. We reject the opposition between stylistic and ideational approaches to populism and develop the idea that the form and the content of populism are intrinsically related. We argue that the forms populism adopts cannot be understood in merely strategic or stylistic terms: they presuppose and entail specific ideological contents. Only by tracing the relationship between populist form and content can we make sense of populism as a distinctive phenomenon and explain its ambiguous relationship with liberal democracy.
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Abts, K. and S. Rummens. “Populism versus Democracy.” Political Studies, 55(2) (2007), 405–424.
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| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 796 | 353 | 34 |
| Full Text Views | 188 | 21 | 0 |
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Search for other papers by Giuseppe Ballacci in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Rob Goodman in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
The difficulty of defining populism is well-known. As populism lacks a fully articulated ideological foundation, it tends to assume different shapes according to context. Due to this ideological inarticulation, some scholars have rejected the so-called ideational approach to populism. They instead propose its conceptualization as a political style or discourse. This paper advances an alternative approach. We reject the opposition between stylistic and ideational approaches to populism and develop the idea that the form and the content of populism are intrinsically related. We argue that the forms populism adopts cannot be understood in merely strategic or stylistic terms: they presuppose and entail specific ideological contents. Only by tracing the relationship between populist form and content can we make sense of populism as a distinctive phenomenon and explain its ambiguous relationship with liberal democracy.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 796 | 353 | 34 |
| Full Text Views | 188 | 21 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 539 | 54 | 0 |
