Populism and its effects on liberal democracy: The case of Hungary and Italy

Democracy, which has a history of 2400 years since ancient Greece, continues to exist as the greatest ideal which is desired to reach in the political field in almost all the world today. The democracy, which has been interpreted and expressed differently in the historical process, was blended with the liberal tradition and accepted as a liberal democracy. The liberal democracy tradition, which is the most blessed of democracy, has now entered into a relationship with populism. Populism, not as old as democracy, is not a new concept. What is encountered in different political processes in history is a definite and not unique concept. Populism has expressed different meanings throughout history because of its ability to integrate into ideologies or philosophies. Populism, which constitutes its basis via antagonism of difference of us-others, degenarete-distinguished, real-public, all-enemy reaches the power to mobilize the masses with a carismatic leader. Although different ideologies and movements in the history may be populist, it is difficult to form a common and general definition for populism. The reason for this is the articulated structure of populism. Populism remains ambiguous because the question whether populism is an ideology, a strategy, or a style is not clear. Because of this structure, different results emerge in the relationship with liberal democracy. This study aims to present the analysis by emphasizing the ambiguous meanings of the concepts of democracy and populism and to analyze the outcomes of the relationship between liberal democracy and populism. The concept analysis will be supported by the study of Italy and Hungary, two exemplary countries from Europe, considered the cradle of liberal democracy.