Browsing by Author "Vollgraaff, Werner"

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    Populism and liberal democracy: three case studies
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2018-12) Vollgraaff, Werner; Fourie, Pieter; Steenekamp, Cindy; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Political Science.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study used an exploratory case study design to examine the wave of populism that occurred in 2016. During 2016, numerous notable populist events in Liberal Democracies occurred. These include Rodrigo Duterte becoming the president of the Philippines; the Brexit vote in Britain and Donald Trump winning the presidency in the U.S. This series of populist events sparked a concern that internal failings within the Liberal Democratic system were the cause of the populism. Understanding the underlying causes of these incidents is of utmost importance considering that Liberal Democracy is globally the current dominant political system. The primary goal of this study is to uncover how and why populism has occurred in these Liberal Democracies, and more specifically, whether it is due to internal failings with the Liberal Democratic system. This study adopted and revised two theoretical frameworks to help examine the two points of interest in this study: populism and Liberal Democracy. The populist framework was dubbed the Fifth Approach; took inspiration from various sources and identified several key aspects that characterise populists. This study also adopted the two-strand approach to Liberal Democracy by Canovan. However, the two sides, redemptive and pragmatic, were revised to fit the two aspects of Liberal Democracy uncovered by this study’s theoretical overview, and four indicators were chosen to measure them: The support that Liberal values have in society, the support for Representative Democracy, citizens’ support for direct democracy and satisfaction with the status quo. Examining the three chosen case studies - Brexit, Donald Trump’s win and Rodrigo Duterte’s winning the Philippines’ presidency - revealed several key points of interest. Firstly, it seems that in Western Liberal Democracies, populism garners most of its support from the older white and less educated demographic. Secondly, when populists come into power, there seems to be a tendency towards authoritarianism. Thirdly, and most important, the populism which occurred in 2016 does not seem to be due to internal failings within Liberal Democracy. Examining the indicators, the researcher concluded that the Philippines and Britain had no gap in their Liberal Democracies. Furthermore, all case studies had varying significant factors that influenced their respective populist events. Only the U.S. case study showed any potential link between populism and failings within its system and was the only case study that evidenced a gap between the two sides of its Liberal Democracy. However, with that case study, there were also other significant external factors that influenced the outcome of the presidential election.