Toward a Therapeutic Approach to Populism

This chapter argues that the failure of the traditional model of representation has opened the door for more immediate models of representation which are exclusionary in the context of our multi-cultural world. It also argues that understanding the new model of representation operational in populism might make it possible to change attitudes not only of the people but also of those who represent them, moving them toward a better understanding of joint participation in the political sphere. The chapter proposes a theory of affect as it relates to populism. It presents some suggestions about what would allow an alleviation of the immediate and affective relationship between populist constituent and representative in favor of a more reflectively grounded relation in a therapeutic model. The descriptive account of populism is ultimately offered in the hopes of being able to intervene therapeutically in the immediately emotional relation of the represented and representative in populism.