Populism as a Form of Politics

In his lecture, Kolja Möller shows that populism, with its claim to mobilize the “people” against the “elite,” draws on a central founding principle of democratic constitutions: popular sovereignty. Populist stakeholders use this as a resource to gain influence over legislation and the allocation of public offices, and to delegitimize or remove existing political officeholders from power.

In doing so, populism navigates a tension between democratic principles and identitarian dynamics. Consequently, it remains a subject of controversy in contemporary social science research: While critical perspectives emphasize its incompatibility with liberal democracy, others highlight its fundamental democratic impulse.

If populism is understood not as a coherent program or ideology, but as a specific form of politics, new perspectives on how to deal with populist movements emerge. This includes the question of how democratic societies can effectively counter contemporary identitarian right-wing populism.