Populism som idé

In this article, populism is approached as a political alternative that has to be taken seriously. This implies going beyond socio-economic or cultural explanations for populism’s growing popularity. The aim is to understand the reasoning in populist thought, the populist idea. Starting from a simple definition of populism, I then relate to populism as a ‘thin ideology’ or as a ‘political style’. While interesting, such approaches tend to overlook the fact that populism may be about the very framework for politics – for how a society should be governed – rather than about political style or content. Understanding populism in this way helps understanding how parts of populist thought can be integrated in programmes of parties and movements that are otherwise typically not perceived as populist. The article ends with a discussion concerning important watershed moments between populism and what is often labelled ‘liberal democracy’. Some tentative conclusions are drawn for understanding today’s situation.