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Articles on Democracy Futures: Populism

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The nation is increasingly defined in terms of threats from outside. It’s the thinking behind Donald Trump’s vow to build a wall to increase security along the border with Mexico. Tony Webster/flickr

Breaking the shackles of the national mindset in a polarised world

The idea that societies equal nation-states, neat containers that can be closed off from outside threats, is powerful. The nationalist paradigm even has a hold over many critics of its politics.
Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-leader Alice Weidel campaigns in front of a banner that reads: ‘Crime by immigration: a flood of refugees leaves its mark!’ Axel Schmidt/Reuters

The pathologies of populism

Current events show that the old problem of populism is making a comeback, and that populism is indeed an autoimmune disease of our age of monitory democracy.
Is populism a poison or a cure for democracy, or both, depending on the circumstances? Louis Boilly/Wikipedia Commons

Is populism democracy’s deadly cure?

We’re not sure if the cure, the populist outsider, will work and make life better. but we are willing to experiment as the old certainties of representative politics wither.
Voters might be quite rational in refusing to give the green light to those who wield power and benefit from the status quo. Mats Edenius/flickr

We frown on voters’ ambivalence about democracy, but they might just save it

Ambivalence among voters is reason to think about how democracy is working for us as a community. To keep democracy alive we need to be sceptical about the exercise of power and keep it in check.
A portrait of US President-elect Donald Trump guards a residential backyard in Iowa, complete with lights and security cameras. Tony Webster/flickr

Trump, the unspeakable and democracy in America

The better-to-do and the established of civil and political society have become complacent and deaf to ‘those at the bottom’. The working class has gone over to the right-wing populists.
Donald Trump in New Mexico. Carlo Allegri/Reuters

Populism and democracy: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde?

Donald Trump is the latest example of populism’s return to the global political landscape. Nine scholars from seven countries examine the link between populism and democracy.
Donald Trump is often described as a populist leader. Reuters/Carlo Allegri

We the People: the charms and contradictions of populism

In this special The Conversation project, scholars and commentators from around the world examine the rise of populism, and its implications, now and into the future.
Tea Party supporters have been demanding to be heard for a long time. Valerie Hinjosa/flickr

Face the facts: populism is here to stay

We are witnessing the global rise of populism. Once seen as a fringe phenomenon from another era or only certain parts of the world, populism is a mainstay of politics today across the globe.
There is no better alternative than the rise of the populist left for Europe and beyond. The People's Assembly Against Austerity

In defence of left-wing populism

The future of democracy depends on developing a left-wing populism that can revive public interest by mobilising political passions in the fight for an alternative to neoliberal de-democratisation.

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