ABSTRACT
Before there were any modern democracies, populists pressed for wider popular participation and governmental attention to popular concerns. They were often associated with social upheaval and uncomfortable challenges to property. In response, elites designed modern constitutions mostly along republican lines, allowing some democracy but with limitations on popular will. Populists have resented limits and pressed for greater political inclusion. Populism has also shaped responses to dramatic social changes and disruptions, like recent deindustrialization and abrupt insertion into global capitalism. Populists have advanced legitimate concerns, but also often been willing to abandon constitutional protections for pluralism, minorities, free expression, due process, and even rule of law that distinguish liberal democracy. Sustainable democracy depends not only on popular voice, but also on such protections—and continual renewal of social solidarity and social institutions.
