Populism is a hotly debated concept in political science but has a few key components. Populism posits that:
- Society is fundamentally divided into two key groups: a pure, moral people and a corrupt elite
- Nothing should constrain the will of the people

Populists claim to represent the “true” people and pledge to advocate for the people’s needs in office. Of course, populists can define “the people” in a variety of ways, leading to divergent types of populism.


Populism and Its Types

Populism is not exclusively harmful to democracy. Many democratic revolutions and equal rights movements have used populist rhetoric effectively to topple oppressive regimes and political systems. The main concern with populism today, however, is that autocrats can use populism to justify attacking institutions that they argue get in the way of the will of the “true” people, including institutions meant to protect marginalized groups or laws meant to uphold democracy.

Populism and Democracy

In the context of a polarized electorate divided by ideological issues and social divisions, autocrats often employ populistic rhetoric in their campaigns to achieve broad public support. This populism is typically divisive and seeks to pit an autocrat’s supporters against supporters of democracy.

Wesleyan University

Would-be autocrats take advantage of disillusioned voters to win elections. They often polarize electorates/take advantage of extant polarization, exacerbate social divides, and engage in populist campaigning to build a base of support that will enable and maintain their rise to power.

How Autocrats Manipulate the Electorate to Rise to Power in Democracies

Autocrats either take advantage of extant political polarization, exacerbate political divides themselves, or employ a mixture of both strategies to rise to power within democracies.

How Autocrats Utilize and Exacerbate Polarization

Autocrats exacerbate long-existing social divides (such as racial or ethnic divides, political divides, etc.) to destabilize a country’s political system and garner popular support.

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