Here’s a concise list of key terms as used in this blog. Source: Takis S. Pappas, Populism and Liberal Democracy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), pp 265-7
Authoritarianism (often also referred as “competitive authoritarianism”). A political system of limited pluralism and low social mobilization run by an interventionist and ideological state; it occasionally allows unfair elections. It is distinguished from totalitarianism and sultanism.
Autocracy. A general term to denote any form of government in which a single individual or group of individuals (such as a junta) holds nearly unbounded and, to a large extent, arbitrary power; it comprises authoritarianism but also extends beyond it to include other forms of nondemocratic systems.
Charismatic leadership. A distinct type of legitimate leadership that is personal and aims at the radical transformation of an established institutional order. Also see personalism, radicalism.
Competitive elections. Regular, adequately free and relatively fair contests by ballot in a way that allows alternation in office. All these criteria coexist in liberal democracy but never in the various types of non-democracy.
Democracy (or parliamentary democracy or representative democracy). Instrumentally defined as a system in which incumbents may lose office after competitive elections with no violence or voter-intimidation. Also see, electoral democracy; liberal democracy; non-democracy.
Democratic illiberalism. Synonymous with populism.
Electoral democracy. A superfluous term given that all democracies require elections. It is used for convenience (e.g., by Freedom House) but causes the accumulation of cases by conceptual stretching. It should not be confused with liberal democracy since, while all liberal democracies are “electoral,” not all electoral democracies are liberal.
Elitism. An empty term, unless specifically used to criticize political liberalism qua “democratic elitism” (as in Bachrach 1980). Significantly, liberalism is an elitist project.
Ethnonationalism (or ethnic nationalism). A specific type of nationalism that defines the nation in terms of a certain group’s shared ethnicity; it advocates the political interests of the particular ethnic group, especially its national independence or self-determination (cf., for instance, Serbian or Catalan ethnic nationalisms as contrasted to Yugoslav and Spanish civic nationalisms). Different from nativism.
Illiberalism. The exact opposite of liberalism. It disregards individual liberty and promotes the idea of an oversoul “people,” advocates polarization and disrespects the rule of law. A characteristic of non-democracies, it is also a core feature in populism qua democratic illiberalism.
Liberalism. A set of ideas based on the primacy of individual liberty over equality. It is distinguished by three interrelated tenets: (a) the broad acknowledgment that society is divided by multiple and often crosscutting cleavages, which (b) necessitates the employment of political moderation and “overlapping consensus,” which in turn can only be achieved by (c) sticking to the rule of law and established institutions, as well as the protection of minority rights. When all the foregoing conditions are met, the outcome is a liberal democracy.
Liberal democracy. Ideal-typically, a pluralist political system based on electoral turnover and the rule of law. Empirically, it has been best approximated in postwar Europe and the Americas. Normatively, it is based on the principles and precepts of secular political liberalism. Synonymous for the most part with Dahl’s polyarchy.
Nationalism. The idea of a nation’s supremacy vis-à-vis other nations. Different from both nativism and ethnonationalism.
Nativism. In its standard (as per the Oxford English Dictionary) lexical definition, the “attitude, practice, or policy of protecting the interests of native-born or existing inhabitants against those of immigrants.” It sets natives (autochthons) against aliens (allochthons) rather than nation against nation (i.e., nationalism). Different from ethnonationalism.
Non-democracy. It does not necessarily preclude elections but opposition parties, even when they are allowed to compete, cannot win office. It is distinguished by several subtypes, of which the most important are authoritarianism, sultanism, and totalitarianism. Synonymous with autocracy.
Personalism. A necessary element for charismatic leadership to obtain, it requires two elements: a leader’s full sway over a party or movement and a leader-led relationship that is direct and unmediated.
Pluralism. A characteristic of any democracy by definitional fiat. It requires a party system with more than one party (otherwise, monism), the possibility of multiple affiliations in social and political life, and the acknowledgment by the state of the plurality of cultural differences in society. Best achieved in polyarchal liberal democracy, pluralism is impaired when populism rises strongly.
Polarization. In essence, zero-sum politics. An inherent feature of populism. Opposite of political moderation.
Political moderation. A key component of liberal democratic politics, aims at reaching consensus and creating positive-sum social and political outcomes. Opposite of polarization.
Polyarchy. Robert Dahl’s (1971) preferred term for capturing the conditions and workings of modern liberal democracy.
Populism. Synonym of democratic illiberalism. A political system which, although pretty much democratic, hardly follows the principles and precepts of political liberalism.
Populist democracy. A democracy in which most or all of the major parties are permeated by populism. In a very real sense, a degradation of liberal democracy. Also see, authoritarianism.
Radicalism. It has always a subversive function and, therefore, precludes political moderation. Situated midway in the continuum from reformism to revolution, it aims at the non-violent but wholesale substitution of some legal and constitutional order by an alternative one. Together with personalism, it constitutes a necessary element for charismatic leadership.
Sultanism. A form of nondemocratic system characterized by the predominance of the ruler, or despot, and his family and personal clique in all levels of governance. Example: North Korea.
Totalitarianism. A nondemocratic, mobilizationist, and highly bureaucratized political system based on the idea of an all-embracing state exercising total control on the citizens’ lives—hence, a monistic party-state system as has been historically exemplified by Nazism, Stalinism, and Maoism, among others. Distinct from authoritarianism and sultanism.
