Abstract

Unlike traditional views on populism, some influential theorists like Margaret Canovan have argued that populism must be regarded as a “shadow” which follows democracy’s inherent weakness or deficit. Benjamin Arditi agrees with Canovan, but he stresses the need to take a closer look at the distance or conflict between democracy and populism. According to him, populism is nothing but a “periphery” located inside democracy and has a good chance to enter into conflict with the latter. This paper attempts to articulate further Arditi’s thesis by focusing on populists’ un-and anti-democratic political behavior. The paper will conclude that populism must be differentiated from the equality- and participation-oriented populistic democracy.