MULTIETNIČKA DRUŠTVA I REAKCIONARNI POPULIZAM
MULTIETHNIC SOCIETY AND RAECTIONARY POPULISM

Author(s): Goran Bašić
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Political Theory, Sociology, Ethnic Minorities Studies
Published by: Институт друштвених наука
Keywords: democracy; multiculturalism; populism; ethnicity
Summary/Abstract: In order to be stable and democratically organised, multicultural societies require specific forms of governing adapted to the nature of their own multiethnicity. In contemporary democratic states, but also throughout their histories, societies have resorted to adjustments of the classical notion of democracy so as to establish effective control over the eruptive force of ethnicity – usually the most prominent feature of a multicultural society. Consociation, federalism, decentralization, various forms of autonomy and self-governance, and affirmative measures are among the most common forms of democratic governance in multicultural societies. In civic democracies, interculturalism is also prominent as a specific strategy for regulating societal relations. On the other hand, populism tends to undermine the ideal of good governance in multiethnic societies because it advocates citizens’ participation in political life by way of direct democracy, which lacks the subtlety to harmonize the specific interests stemming from ethno-cultural identities. Under such circumstances, populism easily becomes reactionary in that it seeks to secure support for political aims by dissolving the contours of ethnic, religious and cultural groups and opposing them to each other. While this type of political governance does not necessarily cause conflict, it certainly does not create stability, and is often an obstacle to economic, political and social development. One consequence of populist governance which instrumentalises ethnicity is a segregated society where apparent stability is secured by the corruption of minority elites or their non-transparent control. Populists, however, disregard the fact that in the nature of ethnic identities they manipulate there resides a cultural dynamism which cannot be controlled without a balanced democracy.

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