Does Populism Discredit Direct Democracy?

Abstract

This chapter is organized around the two leading concepts of (authoritarian) populism and (direct) democracy. The first two sections examine each in turn, locating populism in a long line of temporarily dominant but transitory paradigms used to describe and explain striking political developments from the late 1950s onwards. Direct democracy is first defined and then examined in terms of its two main forms—mediated and unmediated. The essential question is whether it can really function without proper regulation of discussion and voting, or dispense with intermediary institutions, above all political parties. The third section then considers whether current political developments (like their predecessors) constitute any more than a blip in the normal functioning of democracies which they can well cope with. The fourth section discusses how representative processes and direct policy voting could complement each other in the future, with political parties as the key link—particularly in terms of framing and firming up inchoate popular preferences.