The Rise of Populism and the Malaise of Democracy

To speak the truth is a fundamental duty of democratic politics, being required for ensuring mutual trust between representatives and citizens. When it is ostensibly neglected by the former, and the public even loses sight of its value, democracy is deeply eroded from within. There is ground for assuming that this is the case in contemporary democracies. It is against such a background that we should evaluate the fact that populist parties confine themselves to respect for the formal rules of the representative system. These are indeed poor democratic credentials, and yet appear a symptom of a broader malaise of constitutional democracy. A malaise that might transform it into a world of fictions, where power can be acquired and preserved in the people’s name without giving account of how it is effectively exerted. The author's intention, however, is not to predict events. It is to afford an insight into how the populist rise, together with the elements that have contributed to it such as popular discontent with politics and with the EU, may transform the scenario of what can still be called constitutional democracy in most parts of Europe.