CC BY-NC 2.0 Dr Case / Flickr. Some rights reserved.The growing tide of populism in the west is a symptom of failing representative democracy. Current political systems increasingly struggle to translate popular preferences into public policies. The crisis of democracy leads to disillusionment, mistrust and consolidation of populist politics.
Civil society, with active and effectively engaged citizenship could help mend deficiencies in representative democracies. High level of mobilisation and civic oversight, as demonstrated by developments in the transition economies, such as Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, offer important insights into successful anti-populist measures.
Populists can be many things in disguise, but their main threat to representative democracy is their anti-pluralism and uncontested claim of the moral right to represent “real people”. They undermine accountability, because they refer to “popular will” as the sole driver of their actions.
