Èthnos and Plèthos vs. Dèmos: what right-wing conservative populism does to democracy

Abstract

In a world governed mainly by conservative and/or right-wing parties nowadays, the term “populist” has become an essential category of political science to qualify certain of these leaders and regimes. This article will discuss how “so-called” populist governments and leaders define the people and the democracy. It will argue that, in contrast to the inclusive people-dèmos of the liberal democracy, contemporary conservative and nationalist populisms are based on the exclusive concept of people-èthnos that would try to protect itself from external aggressions (immigrants, communists, “sexual deviants”, feminists, ecologists...). Conservative national-populism endangers democracy because it does not only question the formal rules of the pluralist democracy, but it also contributes to a “brutalization” of the political debate.