Answer to Question #292408 in English for Thando

Question

Recently there has been an unprecedented rise of populism in the elections of political leaders.

Is populism an impediment/hindrance to democracy? Write an argumentative essay stating

your position or stance and support it with evidence obtained from the following articles.

Answer 1

Populism promises democratic renewal by introducing new players and policies into the political system. However, while populist parties in power might make politics more representative, they can also weaken accountability by delegating decisions to players outside the ruling party due to their lack of legislative capacity or desire. Even in previously resilient advanced democracies, populists in government can erode the institutional checks on executive power required for long-term democracy, and populist mobilization has triggered democratic breakdown in the wealthiest democracies to ever revert to autocracy: Turkey, Venezuela, and Thailand. Populists are more likely to win elections in the future in subregions with poorer voter-party linkages than other subregions, such as Central and Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, the Andes, Central America, and Southern Africa. Most of these countries' inadequate formal and informal executive limitations would put them at risk of democratic breakdown under populist regimes. Populists aim to reinvigorate democracy by introducing new actors and policies into the political system. However, they argue that their constituency represents "the people" as a whole rather than a segment of a varied population, and they frequently utilize government authority to suppress their opponents in order to institutionalize their transitory political advantage.