The growing of populism in society

The term populism refers to a style, more than it refers to an ideology. The term has many different meanings. In this blog we will apply the following definition: Populism is the defending of "the people" against the ruling elites. Over the last years more and more political parties are being formed that apply some form of populism to gain their votes. Is this a bad thing, or just a blessing in disguise? Let us look at some pros and cons.

Populism is formed on the idea that a group of elites are in power and that there must be resistance against those people, for the good of all. Now, this concept in itself is really strange, because when you oppose the people in power, then you become the people in power, hence you should be against your own views. Populist are always against the operating power, so they always try to break down current evolvements. It is participating without participating. This is not good for society at all.

A second argument against populism is the definition of "the people". In the populist style, "the people" have a clear and unanimous voice. In reality this cannot take place, because then you would have no minorities. There are always minorities. Everybody has been a minority many times in their life probably. Think about it for a second.

Without minorities and with only one voice, there would be no need for democracy at all.

Another consequence of the populism increase in politics is that politics became tougher, rougher and more uncensored. The elite and correct usage of words must make place for the language spoken in the streets. This is especially notable in the one-liners politicians utter nowadays and are front page news the next. This also shaken up the debates and make them more aggressive. Whether this is a positive or negative evolution I leave up to you...

Is populism really that bad. Currently, parties who conduct the populism style are taken under heavy criticism in many media and by many people. However, most of these parties do not seem to find their party for all people. They are getting strong by standing up really strong for a minority. By gaining many to all votes from this minority, these parties grow strong. How a minority can have that much impact? Because we need to be convinced to go to the election offices. About 50% of the people in most countries have not been convinced yet, leaving a lot of room for new populist parties to be founded.

Also, populist parties are under heavy fire because they would mislead the people with their tactics, but when you really look at all the parties, can you honestly say that one of those parties does not use populism as a promotion tool? But if all use it, can it really still be labeled as populism?

Deckers OFF

(Blog based on symposium "De zegen van het populisme" which was given at Tilburg University on March 23th)