Popülizm Tartışmaları Işığında Otoriter Olmayan Bir Demokrasiyi Düşünme Denemeleri

Because of the populist tendency to regard the people as a homogenous entity, the ideational approach considers populism as an ideology based on a moral distinction between a “pure” people and a “corrupt” elite. As Müller has shown, such a polarizing attitude is what gives populism its anti-pluralist character, because it leads populists not to recognize the legitimacy of their opponents on the grounds that they are not part of “the real people.” For this very reason, populism seeks to challenge constitutional checks and …

This article will address briefly the critical studies that correlate populism’s concept of the homogeneous people with the fictive nature of the legal/political representation that underpins the modern concept of sovereignty and argue that populism’s authoritarianism lies most of all in its failure to grasp the fictive character of modern “the people.” Finally, as in line with the present critical literature, the foundations of the ever-lasting authoritarianism of the Turkish Republic will be found in this same fictional nature, and it will be concluded that it is not possible to achieve a non-authoritarian democracy with politicians who claim that only they can represent the will of the “real people.”…