A conceptual approach to populist morality

Populism has a complex relationship with democracy. On one hand, it can exist only when there is at least some room for political pluralism. On the other hand, the populist core idea of ‘one people, one will’ is bound to end with ‘one rule’, posing a threat to the most basic condition of democracy - pluralism. This article looks into the foundations that underpin the tension between populism and democracy by dissecting their ‘moral anatomy’, thereby revealing the variety of functions morality has. The aim is to understand how populist morality differs from democracy and how these differences shape and constrain the relationship between populist and democratic politics.