Populism, Anti-populism, and Democracy: Rethinking Dominant Discourses on Populism

Populism, Anti-populism, and Democracy: Rethinking Dominant Discourses on Populism

Politics and International Studies

2025

Eliana Judd

With the rise and growing influence of what has been called ‘populist’ leaders and ideas, the concept of populism has gained significant relevance in recent years, both in academic and public discourse. Alongside this trend, anti-populism has emerged as a strong counterforce, critiquing the rise of populism and populist ideas. Scholars have shown that anti-populism, empowered through dominant public and media discourses on populism, has been a powerful lens through which to define the concept of populism itself. The latter has become increasingly misunderstood as a danger to democracy, while there in fact exist a variety of populisms, left- and right-wing, democratic and anti-democratic. This research project will therefore explore the difficulties associated with defining both populism and anti-populism as concepts and investigate the democratic potential of left-wing populist movements that have developed in response to democratic crises. Finally, I will explore how the media engages with populist ideas, figures and parties. This will include a focus on how the written media practises agenda-setting and deflection when discussing populism, as well as the role of populist hype in the euphemisation, trivialisation and amplification of populism through The Guardian’s articles.

populism, anti-populism, democracy