Synapse
⌘+K
Synapse
PulseExploreJournal ClubResearchersJournals
Instagram
HomeJournal ClubExplore
September 30, 2025

Populism, ‘the People’ and Popular Sovereignty

View Full Paper
Ask AI
Bookmark
Share

Authors

RGRaphaël Girard

Discussion

Loading...

Member takes

Overview

This chapter discusses how populism challenges elite control and advocates for direct democracy, highlighting tensions with popular sovereignty.

Key Points

  • Populism critiques liberal democracy, emphasizing that political power is often held by elites rather than 'the people'.
  • The aim of populism is to return government to the people, leveraging direct democracy tools like referendums to achieve this goal.
  • A notable divide exists between the ideal of popular sovereignty and its actual implementation in political systems, complicating its effectiveness.
  • Populism's discourse often defines 'the people' as a sovereign entity, undermining legal and institutional constraints that limit power.

Cite This Study

Raphaël Girard (2023) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/68dc27558a7d58c25ebb3b27https://doi.org/10.35853/vestnik.gu.2023.3(42).06
View Full Paper
Ask AI
Bookmark
Share

Also Consider

Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context:

  1. 1‘We, the People’ Understanding Populism in the Twenty-first Century2026
  2. 2Populism, Governmentality, and Acclamatory Democracy2026
  3. 3Populism: Focusing on the People's Interest2024
  4. 4Justification of Populism: Democracy, Conflicts and Constituent Power2026
  5. 5The people versus the grandees: The paradox of Claude Lefort’s ‘populism’2024