# When Is Democracy Undemocratic? (with Emily B. Finley)

**URL:** <https://www.libertarianism.org/podcasts/free-thoughts/when-is-democracy-undemocratic-with-emily-b-finley>

**By** Emily B. Finley, Trevor Burrus

**Published:** October 14, 2022

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Is populism anti-democratic?

## SUMMARY:

The rise of global populism reveals a tension in Western thinking about democracy. Warnings about the "populist threat" to democracy and "authoritarian" populism are now commonplace. However, as Emily B. Finley argues in _The Ideology of Democratism_, dismissing "populism" as anti-democratic is highly problematic. In effect, such arguments essentially reject the actual popular will in favor of a purely theoretical and abstract "will of the people."

On today’s episode, she and Trevor sit down to trace a line from Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Thomas Jefferson to Woodrow Wilson and John Rawls, point out the flaws in deliberative democratic practices, and try to find a way to conceive of a better democratism—one without mob rule.

### Further Reading:

[_The Ideology of Democratism_](https://www.amazon.com/Ideology-Democratism-Emily-B-Finley/dp/0197642292) by Emily B. Finley