The Consequences of Populism: When do Populists Let Go of Democratic Principles?

• In Event: Public Attitudes toward Populism

Abstract

Scholars and pundits alike are increasingly concerned about the re-emergence of radical right-wing populism in the United States and across Europe. The 2016 U.S. presidential election, the Brexit vote in the UK, the rise of radical right populist parties in France, Italy, the Netherlands, Hungary, Poland and even Germany, all testify to the importance of this phenomenon. This paper focuses on the implications of the rise of radical right populism for representative democracy: to what extent (if any) are populists willing to countenance the erosion of democratic rights and processes? The core hypothesis is that the effects of populism on democratic attitudes are conditional on the strength of perceived cultural and economic threats: the stronger the threats, the more willing populists will be to sacrifice democratic principles. To test this argument, our paper draws on data from a YouGov survey that includes validated survey measures of populist attitudes and embedded experiments as well as measures of willingness to countenance democratic backsliding.

Authors

• Dietlind Stolle, McGill

• Elisabeth L. Gidengil