Challenging Democracy: Understanding How the Ideas of Populists and Disenchanted Citizens Align

Reinhard Heinisch and Oscar Mazzoleni
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Reinhard Heinisch: Department of Political Science, University of Salzburg, Austria
Oscar Mazzoleni: Institute of Political Sciences, University of Lausanne, Switzerland

Politics and Governance, 2024, vol. 12

Abstract: This thematic issue proceeds from the idea that, despite extensive research, we do not know enough about the alternatives to representative party democracy that people disenchanted with democracy and populists envision apart from greater citizen involvement. Citizens’ potential preferences seem to range from stealth democracy and decision-making by apolitical experts to deliberative mechanisms and referenda. The picture is equally blurred when it comes to the views of populist actors themselves. Research suggests that their calls for referendums diminish over time and that they reject deliberative bodies outright. This thematic issue reassesses our understanding of the extent to which populists’ and citizens’ ideas and the alternatives they propose coincide and argues for a wider dissemination of relevant research that explores these shortcomings. The articles presented explore these points by featuring conceptually and/or methodologically innovative contributions that address issues such as the mismatch between populists and citizens in terms of democratic alternatives, (dis)satisfaction with populist parties in public office, the preferences of distinct subgroups as well as the role of political emotions among populist party supporters.

Keywords: citizen preferences; democracy; ideology; illiberalism; methodology; non‐mainstream ideas; populism; referendums (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:poango:v12:y:2024:a:9271

DOI: 10.17645/pag.9271

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