Populism, democracy, and the publicity requirement
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Populism, democracy, and the publicity requirement. / Rostbøll, Christian F.
In: Constellations: an international journal of critical and democratic theory, Vol. 30, No. 3, 2023, p. 276-289.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Populism, democracy, and the publicity requirement
AU - Rostbøll, Christian F.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - It is common to ask whether populism is a threat or a corrective to democracy. In the empirical literature, the conclusion tends to be that it is both. Some normative accounts promote populism because of its alleged ability to deepen democracy. The shortcoming of these approaches is that they take an observer attitude to the question. This article instead takes a participant attitude and asks whether you as fellow participants in democracy can endorse and promote populism because it has positive effects on a non-populist understanding of democracy. Applying the publicity condition first suggested by Kant and latter expounded by Rawls, it argues that you cannot. You cannot publicly both endorse populism and say you do so because it improves democracy understood in non-populist terms. The publicity condition rules out the possibility of promoting one set of ideas (populism) for the sake of another set of ideas (non-populist democracy). The argument for promoting populism for the sake of non-populist ends cannot be made in public without frustrating that very end.
AB - It is common to ask whether populism is a threat or a corrective to democracy. In the empirical literature, the conclusion tends to be that it is both. Some normative accounts promote populism because of its alleged ability to deepen democracy. The shortcoming of these approaches is that they take an observer attitude to the question. This article instead takes a participant attitude and asks whether you as fellow participants in democracy can endorse and promote populism because it has positive effects on a non-populist understanding of democracy. Applying the publicity condition first suggested by Kant and latter expounded by Rawls, it argues that you cannot. You cannot publicly both endorse populism and say you do so because it improves democracy understood in non-populist terms. The publicity condition rules out the possibility of promoting one set of ideas (populism) for the sake of another set of ideas (non-populist democracy). The argument for promoting populism for the sake of non-populist ends cannot be made in public without frustrating that very end.
U2 - 10.1111/1467-8675.12625
DO - 10.1111/1467-8675.12625
M3 - Journal article
VL - 30
SP - 276
EP - 289
JO - Constellations: an international journal of critical and democratic theory
JF - Constellations: an international journal of critical and democratic theory
SN - 1351-0487
IS - 3
ER -
ID: 305014873