ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part analyzes how populism distorts fundamental notions of political and social theory: democracy, civil society, constitutionalism, and representation. Populism is located in democracy, thrives in civil society, uses constitutionalism as a tool for change, and promises better and more genuine forms of representation. The part argues that populism has an ambivalent relationship to democracy. Even though it promises to correct democracy, it bears risks like the populist relationship between leader and the people, and the ways leaders deal with the tensions between verticality and horizontality in populist representation. The part explains the normative framework of the relationship between civil society and democracy. It shows how the logic of populism in power attempts against the fundamental principles of civil society and democracy.
