Populism, politics and democracy

The spectre of populism haunts modern democracies. Can it be avoided in modern conditions of a consumption-driven society and its dumbing down by the media? Democracy itself has two aspects: individual liberties for all and equality before the law; but also states and parties that can mobilize and control people en masse. For there to be populist leaders, there has to be a people – a widespread belief that the social base of society has a collective will, not simply a variety of individual and group interests as in liberalism. Rousseau's idea of a general will is still relevant, the presupposition of many who have never heard of him. Today populist leaders couple the sacred names of ‘nation’ and ‘people’ and they are impatient of procedures that frustrate the alleged popular will. They want a direct relationship between ‘the people’ and government. What limits are there on the rule or will of the majority? Populist leaders rail against constitutional law. But a greater restraint on populism is still the tradition of political thinking and political practices: the view that societies are normally composed of differing interests and values which need distinguishing and compromising not aggregating.