Nie taki wilk straszny – strukturalne uwarunkowania populizmu w głównym nurcie amerykańskiej demokracji

Abstract

Analyzing various types of populism, we face the question of the role of tension between leaders and the structures of political systems, we face the question of the role of tension between leaders and the structures of political systems. This tension creates the „institutional paradox of populism”, in which populist leaders may rely on the institutions that are the subject of their criticism on their way to power and in how they exercise it. What unites the various perspectives on populism is that they most often contain a negative evaluative element, suggesting that the phenomena of populism are an undesirable departure from „normality”. The following text indicates that in American democracy it is quite the opposite. Phenomena associated with populism are a permanent and indispensable element of mainstream American politics. To illustrate this thesis, the convergence between the classic features of populism and the features defining the character of American democracy was demonstrated. This convergence is a derivative of the durable structures of American democracy.