2023/12/15 by Mikkel Flohr · 1 voice · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Italian Fascism and Post-war Society #Political theory and Gramsci #Populism, Right-Wing Movements
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s0003975623000486
openalex publication_date 2023/12/15 · openalex created_date 2023/12/16 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
Abstract This article reconstructs and analyses the conceptual history of “the people” [ Folket ] in modern Danish history. It applies qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze new data and archival materials and provides a detailed study of the construction, development and central role of populist conceptions of “the people” in the constitutional struggles between 1830 and 1920 that transformed Denmark from an absolute monarchy into a parliamentary democracy. I argue that these populist conceptualizations of “the people” shaped and fostered the emergence of the ideas and practices of parliamentary democracy as “the people’s rule” [ Folkestyre ]. This case study thereby challenges contemporary assumptions about an inherently adversarial relationship between populism and democracy. Moreover, it makes a number of empirical and analytical contributions to the existing historiography, as well as the literature on the construction of “the people,” democracy and populism.