Populism and challenges of political representation in contemporary democracies

Abstract

The article presents a critical analysis of the concept of political representation and its relationship with the phenomenon of populism. Disaffection with representation, it is argued, results from the inability of representative democracies to fulfill their pledge of inclusion and increasing social democratization through institutional means. The broken promise of representative democracy to achieve the democratic ideals of self-government and popular sovereignty is addressed. Lastly, it is argued that the crisis of political representation is directly related to the rise of populist governments, which, due to the inability of systems of representative democracy to deliver on their promise of inclusion, end up subordinating traditional political cleavages such as the left-right divide to the dichotomy of “the people” versus “the elite”.