Funding
Independent Research Fund Denmark has supported the project with a DKK 2.8 million grant.
Research Project In the name of the people - Populism and the popular: threats or promises to democracy?
Project Duration: 09/01/2019 - 02/28/2023
Populism in general, and specially its relation to democracy, are being debated intensively these years. Whereas the popular (‘folkelighed’) is almost univocally positive, populism is mostly used pejoratively. Seeing populism as a way of constructing the people, and a political logic which can be present in degrees, this study examines different aspects of such constructions in Danish political history. The aim of the study is threefold:
1) a clarification of populism's relation to democracy by focusing on three aspects of the role of the people: popular sovereignty, patterns of in- and exclusions in 'the people' and popular activism and participation
2) to specify the concepts of left vs. right populism by analysing populism's relation to equality and economic redistribution
3) to give an historical and conceptual account of the way the cluster of concepts of the people, the popular, and demos have been used and have acquired positive and negative connotations in Danish political history. The two major cases are The Danish People’s Party since its establishment, and the Danish Social Democracy in the period leading up to the program of ”Denmark for the People” in 1934.
1) a clarification of populism's relation to democracy by focusing on three aspects of the role of the people: popular sovereignty, patterns of in- and exclusions in 'the people' and popular activism and participation
2) to specify the concepts of left vs. right populism by analysing populism's relation to equality and economic redistribution
3) to give an historical and conceptual account of the way the cluster of concepts of the people, the popular, and demos have been used and have acquired positive and negative connotations in Danish political history. The two major cases are The Danish People’s Party since its establishment, and the Danish Social Democracy in the period leading up to the program of ”Denmark for the People” in 1934.
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Contact
Allan Dreyer Hansen, Project leader, Associate professor, Roskilde University, adh@ruc.dk
Researchers
Allan Dreyer Hansen, Associate professor, adh@ruc.dk
Mikkel Flohr, Postdoc, mflohrc@ruc.dk
Anders Guldberg Barslev Hovmøller, PhD Student, agbh@ruc.dk
Publications
On the Conceptual and Political History of "Populism"
Hansen, A. D. & Flohr, M., 8 Jan 2024.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › Research › peer-review
The Populist Foundations of Democracy: A Conceptual History of "the People" [Folket] in the Constitutional Struggles in Denmark, 1830-1920
Flohr, M., 2024, In: European Journal of Sociology. 65, 1, 39 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Benedict Anderson's Imagined Communities
Flohr, M., 25 Apr 2023, England/Wales : Critical Legal Thinking.Research output: Other contribution › Net publication - Internet publication › Communication
Activities
Populism In the Danish Social Democracy During the Interwar Period
Hansen, A. D. (Speaker) & Hovmøller, A. G. B. (Speaker)
3 Apr 2023Activity: Talk or presentation › Lecture and oral contribution
Social Democratic populism in the interwar period in Denmark
Hansen, A. D. (Speaker) & Hovmøller, A. G. B. (Speaker)
7 Oct 2022Activity: Talk or presentation › Lecture and oral contribution
Populismen styrker demokartiet
Hansen, A. D. (Speaker)
4 Oct 2021Activity: Talk or presentation › Lecture and oral contribution
Press-media
2024 er det ultimative valgår. Skal vi frygte populisterne?
04/03/2024
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Press / Media
Ukraine-krig viser, at folk stadig vil dø for deres land. 40 år gammel teori forklarer hvorfor
11/04/2023
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Press / Media
Base at Roskilde University
The project based at the Department of Social Sciences and Business
Participating research units: Power, Identity and Critique Forskningsgruppe
PhD programme: Doctoral School of Social Sciences and Business
Relevant degree programs: Global and Development Studies // International Politics and Gorvernance // Politik og Forvaltning (DK) // International Bachelor in Social Sciences
Research from Roskilde University
More information
Find additional information about the project: In the name of the people - Populism and the popular: threats or promises to democracy:
Contact
Allan Dreyer Hansen
Project leader, Associate professor
Phone +45 4674 2756
adh@ruc.dk