Populism is by many considered as anti-pluralist and therefore as directly opposed to liberal democratic principles. The populist defence of the people, allegedly unified in their will, seems to be...Show morePopulism is by many considered as anti-pluralist and therefore as directly opposed to liberal democratic principles. The populist defence of the people, allegedly unified in their will, seems to be inherently at odds with the liberal democratic core value of pluralism aimed at politically embedding various interests. In this thesis, I question whether populism is necessarily opposed to liberal democratic pluralism. I build on the assumption that the populist logic is highly adaptive and can appear in combination with an extensive range of ideologies. Therefore, in contrast to the ‘populism is anti-pluralism’ view, populism can be ideologically in favour of pluralism and the populist defence of a collective will can rest on the demands of a heterogeneously constructed people. Even though such a form of left populism is still considered anti-pluralist by some, I argue it is not logically opposed to liberal democratic pluralism.Show less
