scholarly journals What is Wrong with Populism?

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 325-342
Author(s):  
Enes Kulenović
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Will ◽  
Democratic Principles ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Prevailing View

The main goal of this article is to explore the relationship between populism and representative democracy. The paper is divided into two parts. In the first part, the paper offers a detailed analysis of the three criticisms of populism and the implications these criticisms have on our understanding of representative democracy. First, it addresses the argument that populism inevitably relies on demagogy and it examines the inference this argument has on the concept of political representation in democracy. Second, it discusses the claim that populism relies on the oversimplification of political issues and what this claim reveals about the democratic ideal of the informed and politically responsible voter. The third criticism deals with the anti-pluralist character of populist politics, which, the paper argues, can also be extended to the concept of popular sovereignty itself. In the second part, the article looks more closely at the relationship between populism and representative democracy. Relying on the insights from the first part, it examines different institutional restraints on the will of the majority and how populism redefines these restraints as anti-democratic and elitist barriers to popular will. Finally, the paper questions the prevailing view that sees populism as a phenomenon arising from the tension between liberal and democratic principles within representative democracy and offers an alternative framework for understanding the relationship between populism and democracy.

scholarly journals Elite and Liberal Democracy: A New Equilibrium?

Topoi ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Campati
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Vertical Dimension ◽  
Representative Democracy ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Representative Government ◽  
The Third ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
Democratic Principles ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractIn contemporary democracies, the balance between the minority principle and democratic principles, one of the components underlying the relationship between liberalism and democracy, is being broken. This paper offers a reflection on this theme – crucial for the future of representative government – in relation to the importance of the theory of elites. The article is divided into three parts: the first part briefly traces the main phases of the theory of elites from the late nineteenth century to the present, indicating, for each, the salient features; the second part focuses on the elements characterizing the alliance between the minority principle and democratic principles, which forms the basis of liberal representative democracy, with specific consideration paid to the geometric architecture of democracy, comprising a horizontal dimension and a vertical dimension; finally, the third part argues the need for strengthening the logic of distance to consolidate the connection between the theory of elites and liberal representative democracy.

Secularization and States of Modernity

1984 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 362-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terrance G. Carroll
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Third World ◽  
Necessary Condition ◽  
Modern State ◽  
The Third ◽  
Political Modernity ◽  
General Proposition ◽  
Significant Obstacle ◽  
The Third World ◽  
The Relationship

Extensive secularization is frequently held to be a necessary condition for political modernity. The author argues that the relationship between religion and the modern state is considerably more complex than this general proposition suggests. It is necessary to specify particular ideological models of the modern state, since these differ significantly from one another; and it is necessary to specify particular religions in their contemporary manifestations, since these also differ in important ways. A detailed analysis of this type suggests that there is no general incompatibility between the main religions of the third world and widely shared, nonideological features of political modernity. Specific religions are shown to be incompatible with some specific forms of the modern state, while presenting no significant obstacle to other models of political modernity.

scholarly journals Masové médiá v demokracii

2020 ◽  
pp. 70-76
Author(s):  
Katarína Duffeková
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Media Theory ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
The Public ◽  
Democratic Principles ◽  
Number Of Publications ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Independent mass media are an important part of democracy. Their task is to control whether democratic principles are truly fulfilled in society. Furthermore, their responsibility is to inform the public about important political and socio-political issues. Mass media provide the platform for bigger citizen participation but also for fun and education. The aim of this article is to characterize the functions of mass media in modern democracies according to two types of sources – ones from scholars which focus on the relationship between mass media and democracy and others from scholars that focus on mass media theory and relationship of mass media with percipients. By the method of analysis it was concluded that the most important function of mass media in both types of sources was to provide information. However, other functions appear in a number of publications as well, e.g., mass media as a watchdog or as a platform to exchange opinions and ideas.

Placing Berlin in the Music

2021 ◽  
pp. 156-189
Author(s):  
Phil Alexander
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Traditional Music ◽  
Main Body ◽  
The Third ◽  
Musical Production ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

This chapter presents the third element fundamental to an overall picture: the music itself, with specific focus on the relationship between music, text, and the city. The chapter begins with a wider discussion of music’s role in sounding urban geographies. This is then set against the indeterminacy and ambiguities of “placing” klezmer music—a result of mid-twentieth-century rupture, subsequent postwar cultural submergence, and the transnationalism of its contemporary revival. The main body of the chapter is devoted to the specific ways that the city of Berlin is articulated through its klezmer music. In order to do this, the chapter takes as its starting point sociologist Adam Krims’s flexible concept of “urban ethos,” applying this for the first time to the processes of traditional music. Through detailed analysis of a series of musical examples, it shows the important ways in which the city of Berlin is made meaningful in its klezmer music—how exactly, through both music and text, the city functions as a significant musical-semantic unit. The musicians discussed include ?Shmaltz!, Daniel Kahn, and Knoblauch Klezmer Band, and the analysis is supported by detailed transcriptions and interview material. Throughout the chapter and through the work of these different artists, certain themes reappear—themes particularly pertinent to Berlin and Jewish musical production. These include notions of escape, borders, and transgression and the dialogue between visible and hidden histories. The chapter also uses David Kaminsky’s theorization of the “New Old Europe Sound” to question and problematize some of the urban expressions discussed.

The Goodness of Death in Oedipus at Colonus

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Franco V. Trivigno
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Being And Time ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Core ◽  
Life Trajectory ◽  
Philosophical Debates ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Oedipus At Colonus

In Sophocles’s Oedipus at Colonus, the third choral ode presents a dark and pessimistic view of human life, whereby it is best never to have been born and second best to die young. This chapter provides a detailed analysis of the pessimistic position advocated by the chorus, the core of which is an endorsement of the goodness of death. Their conclusion rests on two premises: a quantitative account of the amount of pain a typical human life contains and a narrative account of the life trajectory of a typical human life. After laying out the chorus’s position, the chapter assesses their view and situates it within recent philosophical debates in two areas: on the nature and value of death and on the relationship between well-being and time. In the end, the life of Oedipus, as presented in the tragedy, exemplifies the chorus’s dark perspective.

Alcune riflessioni sull' ἐνάργεıα dall' Ars rhetorica di Pseudo-Dionigi di Alicarnasso

2012 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 339-353
Author(s):  
Francesco Berardi
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Everyday Language ◽  
The Third ◽  
Dionysius Of Halicarnassus ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Rhetorical Texts

Many modern scholars have studied in detail the phenomenon of vividness (gr. ἐνάργεıα; lat. evidentia) in ancient rhetorical texts; however, they have neglected to examine two important testimonies included in an Ars rhetorica ascribed to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, but in fact to be ascribed to an anonymous rhetorician who probably lived in the third century AD. In these two passages the anonymous rhetorician faces some issues concerning the stylistic evidence that have not been previously studied. He analyzes the relationship between the vividness of the text and the use of everyday language, aimed to enhance realistic effects of discourse. This paper aims to present a detailed analysis of the comments offered by the anonymous rhetorician, that will help to define some peculiar aspects of stylistic vividness of the language in discourse.

scholarly journals ILLUSION AND REALITY OF STATEHOOD: THE SEARCH FOR PARALLELS BETWEEN THE LITHUANIAN ACTIVIST FRONT AND THE ORGANISATION OF UKRAINIAN NATIONALISTST

2017 ◽  
pp. 72-82
Author(s):  
S. Jazavita
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
Important Lesson ◽  
The Third ◽  
Communist Ideology ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Relationship

he present article analyses the relationship between the Lithuanian Activist Front and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and their activity parallels in order to reach the Lithuanian and the Ukrainian independence in 1941. The research focuses on the attempts of the OUN and the LAF leaders to project the future Lithuanian and Ukrainian states in the 'New Europe' headed by Germany. Reaching for counterbalance against the USSR and the Communist ideology, the LAF and the OUN organizations aimed at taking into consideration the military and political power of Germany, while Škirpa, the leader of the LAF, coordinated his activities with the OUN leaders, Stetsko, Yaryi, and Bandera. Fanatical chiefs of the Third Reich manipulated with the Lithuanians and Ukrainians' feelings of revenge against the Bolsheviks and the will to feel Europeans; however, they involved a part of Lithuanians and Ukrainians to the massacre of Jews rather than allowed to contribute to Wehrmacht fight against the USSR. Important lesson here that Lithuania and Ukraine did not obtain any independence but just became a part of the Third Reich, which controlled the so called 'New Europe' at the time.

Sieyes, Emmanuel Joseph (1748–1836)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Political Representation ◽  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Coup D'etat ◽  
National Assembly ◽  
The Third ◽  
Political Thinker ◽  
Practical Impact ◽  
The Revolution

The Abbé Sieyes is best known for his 1789 pamphlet What is the Third Estate?, which set the constitutional agenda for the new French National Assembly. His rhetorical attacks on aristocratic privilege, alongside his promotion of the Third Estate, political representation and popular sovereignty, marked him as a first-rate political thinker. His writings also had a practical impact. Yet he had trained as a priest, only entering political life in 1788. His subsequent fate became intertwined with that of the Revolution. Ironically, Sieyes, who helped ‘open’ the revolution, also played a part in its conclusion, laying the ground for Napoleon’s coup d’état of 1799.

Democracy, or Taming an Unruly Friend

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
András Sajó ◽  
Renáta Uitz
Keyword(s):  
Majority Rule ◽  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
Sovereign Power ◽  
Representative Government ◽  
General Will ◽  
The People ◽  
Universal Suffrage ◽  
Diverse Society ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter examines the relationship between constitutionalism and democracy, with particular emphasis on the creative, disruptive, and destructive force behind constitutions and government: the people. Democracy is inherent in modern constitutionalism. The authority of the constitution derives from people’s sovereignty. If constitutionalism was designed to contain the abuse resulting from absolute sovereign power by setting up arrangements inside government, the democratic exercise of sovereignty emerged as an external constraint on government. This chapter traces the evolution of universal suffrage and considers its consequences, including the perils (and tyranny) of majority rule for a diverse society. It discusses the idea that a sovereign people has a single general will and looks at representative government as a means of balancing popular sovereignty with constitutionalism. It analyses the binding mandate and how it was replaced by the free mandate, along with the referendum as a genuine expression of the will of the people.

Byelorussian Nationalism and Western Russianism: the Problem of Confrontation

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 161-168
Author(s):  
Alexander D. Gronsky
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Negative Attitude ◽  
Great Patriotic War ◽  
The Government ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Relationship

The article examines the relationship between Western Russianism (Zapadnorusizm) and Byelorussian nationalism. Byelorussian nationalism is much younger than Western Russianism, finally shaping only in the end of the 19th century. Before 1917 revolution Byelorussian nationalism could not compete with Western Russianism. The national policy of the Bolsheviks contributed to the decline of Western Russianism and helped Byelorussian nationalism to gain stronger positions. However, Byelorussian nationalists actively cooperated with the occupation authorities during the Great Patriotic war. That caused distinctly negative attitude of Byelorussians towards the movement and collaborators. Currently, Byelorussian nationalism is supported both by the opposition and by the government. Western Russianism has no political representation, but is supported by the majority of Byelorussian population.

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