Constructing ‘the people’ of populism: a critique of the ideational approach from a discursive perspective

Abstract

This article takes as its starting point the consensus among scholars regarding the core characteristics of populism, namely the centrality of ‘the people’ and an antagonistic view of society that pits the former against an elite. It suggests that the assumption found in the ideational approach, that populism constructs a homogeneous and morally pure people is problematic and may lead to analytical and normative bias, as it equates populism with anti-pluralism and illiberalism. The article starts with surveying the language games involved in the construction of ‘the people’ in democratic modernity. It then reconstructs the key principles of the ideational and the discursive approaches to populism, highlighting how the latter offers a more robust framework for understanding how populism creates a sense of unity among heterogeneous demands, without necessarily resulting in homogeneity, while problematizing moral framings. Several empirical cases of populist mobilization are surveyed to provide empirical grounding to the argument. The author's suggestion is not to dismiss the ideational approach, but rather to revise the homogeneity and morality theses, opening up the possibility of conceiving of ‘the people’ in terms of unity and understanding the latter’s antagonism towards the ‘elite’ in terms of politics.