Introduction

“Today, the voice of populist infantile politics is amplified by social media allowing the ignorant to claim equality with the informed” (Temelkuran, 2019). A statement that cuts deep such that democracy is left bleeding. This is what happens when voters became aware of the powers vested in them by democracy. That they can use the voter’s booth to blow any political agreement apart. They are excited and feel their future is secured when populist make their moves; In the U.S, Donald Trump move on deporting any undocumented immigrants. In Spain, Podemos party wants to give immigrants the right to vote. A Dutch politician Geert Wilders, fighting for the elimination of hate speech laws. The Bolivian president expanding the rights to grow coca for the indigenous farmers. The execution of any suspected drug dealer in Philippines by Rodrigo Duterte. All these individuals have one thing in common. They are populists. In this paper I will discuss why populism is a threat to democracy.

What is Populism

In 1890s a populist movement in U.S pitted the Democrats and the rural population against the urban Republicans, that’s when populism first came to the picture. Mid 20^th century the term become popular among the journalists trying to describe the communist movements in Europe as well as anti-communism movements in the U.S. No one clearly understood the meaning of the word until in 1967. Where Benjamin Moffit explained in his book (“The Global Rise of Populism”) that the word could not be tied to a single meaning. Scholars at this particular period had a different perception of the word. Many were linking it to nationalist nostalgia, a strategy used by leaders to win elections by appealing to the voters while others tied it to frustrations after a decline in welfare.

The day was saved by Cas Muddle in 2004, who described and defined populism as a thin ideology. A thin ideology that sets a framework between the pure and the corrupt elite. But not all agree with this; some scholars claim “thin ideology” does not cover all aspects. Jan Muller, a political scientist defined populism or the populist are people who claim they represent the people and anyone else who claims to do so is illegitimate. Categorizing them into two; inclusive and exclusive. Where stigmatized groups are shut down in exclusive while politics is opened to them in inclusive, such groups include the poor, refugees, minorities, etc.

Cas Muddle clams that populism has three key features anti-establishment, authoritarian and nativist (“What is populism?”, 2016). Where anti-establishment, is where the populists present themselves as the champions for the people against the elite who control and posse’s economic power. Whereas in authoritarian the populists present their great authority and disregard of any political procedures claiming they represent the ignored population. Lastly, nativism is where the populists believe that the real citizens of that country should be protected from outsiders or the immigrants. One of the populists who display all the three features is Donald Trump.

Growing Popularity

            The growing popularity of populism in the western countries such as New Zealand is due to two main factors; Economic and Cultural Factors. Economic factor- the economic inequality perspective. The changes that have led to the transformation of the economy affecting the workforce especially in industries have come with consequences, where the behavior of the voters change drastically (Edwards, 2016). These changes have created discontents such as the declining of industries and manufacturing. These people claim these changes are due to the inflow of refugees and immigrants, an end to organized labor, lack of welfare, and neo-liberal austerity among others. Hence the ones who have been left behind in the economy, or the lower class have come to believe change will only happen if they believe in anti-establishment, nativist and authoritarian movements. While the cultural factor is explained as the rising population against changing lifestyle, values, demographics, etc. Cultural backlash is always tied to geographical elements such as a particular working class, some towns or a group of people who feel they are not in sync with the metropolitan elites and liberals. These two factors are the main reasons for the rise of populism in the U.S with Donald Trump to the support for Brexit.

Crisis of Democracy

            Democracy is at the verge of its tears. Later if not sooner we shall say goodbye to democracy. For the last 12 years, more countries are running towards populism than democracy. A sign that democracy is slowly dying. In many countries like Turkey where populist have taken over power, they always end up messing up institutions that democracy had taken care of. Funny enough, back in the 1960s to 1990s democracy was brought to its knees in many countries by civil wars. A good example is Argentina and Nigeria. Currently, democracies are brought down by leaders who were given power by the same democracy, by tampering with institutions and altering the limits of their powers. The killing of democracy from within is mostly taking place in stable and prosperous countries. Countries with at least a GDP of $1,000 per capita. And in all of these countries a third of them the change is brought about by populist leaders.

Steven Levitsky, a political scientist, argues that democracy killed from within does so slowly. It is quite difficult to point it out unlike when democracy was dying in days using guns and tanks (Mudde, 2015). This is so as the populists never hide their intentions; they are always clear that they want to transform the political system for the better of the people. Anyone who stands on their way is discredited as a cartel that misuses the citizen’s resources, or a loser who lost at the ballot box. Reasons, why I consider populism as a threat to democracy, are; Populists last longer in office, populists will always leave office dramatically, populists are much likely to destroy democracy than strengthen it, populists erode checks and balances on the executive and populists attack individual right(Kyle & Mounk, 2018).

Populists stay longer in office- most basic sign of a democracy is how the president gets to power, was it free and fair? And if he losses will he accept defeat and hand over power? From the available data, populists seem to cling to power more than non-populists. Many usually think that populists cannot stay in power for long due to their inexperience with politics. But that is not the case; when Donald Trump was voted to power, many thought that he could not even last for a term. But to the contrary, the guy is still in power, and his government has instituted political change than many would have expected.

Populists leave office in dramatic circumstances- the longevity of the period a leader stays in office may be determined by how good he was, so if he stays longer, this may indicate that he is a good leader. According to research, only 17%  of populists leaders leave office after being voted out, while precisely the same percentage step down when their limit comes to an end. The rest were either forced to resign or got impeached. Meaning that 30% of populist’s governments, some of them will have issues when getting out of office.

Populists have a higher probability of destroying democracy- from research 23% of populists always cause a significant change in a democracy. This number compared to 6% of non-populists, meaning that populist’s governments are more likely to destroy democracy compared to non-populists. The mainly tamper with institutions.

Populists erode checks and balances on the executive- among the populist’s governments 50% of them change the constitution to extend their limit in power. These leaders attack the judiciary openly, and their countries end up being the most corrupt.

Attacking of individual rights- under populists leaders, freedom of press falls drastically by 7% and civil liberty by 8% while the political rights fall by 13%.

In conclusion, all academics and commentators should stand on their grounds and sound an alarm on the effects of populism, before it is too late. Although some claim it’s a sign of resilience that will help correct the grievances of the majority and deal with the excessive power used by the elites.

References

Kyle, J., & Mounk, Y. (2018). The Populist Harm to Democracy: An Empirical Assessment. Institute For Global Change. Retrieved from https://institute.global/sites/default/files/articles/The-Populist-Harm-to-Democracy-An-Empirical-Assessment.pdf

Mudde, C. (2015). The problem with populism. Opinion Europe. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/17/problem-populism-syriza-podemos-dark-side-europe

What is populism?. (2016). The Economist Explains. Retrieved from https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2016/12/19/what-is-populism

Temelkuran,, E. (2019). How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship (p. 42).

Edwards, B. (2016). Political Roundup: Could anti-Establishment politics hit New Zealand?. Retrieved from https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11746493