Right-Wing and Left-Wing Populism

Civility theory offers a systematic understanding of populism that differs from common criteria such as “criticism of elites” and “right-wing populism.” Populists, in this view, think one-sidedly (unilaterally, in the logic of self-interest, power, and friend versus foe); they are distant from or reject two- and multidimensional (multilateral) coordination. Accordingly, they favor autocratic ways of thinking and acting, and struggle with policy and humanity-wide challenges that lie beyond their unilateralist patterns of thought.

Right-wing and left-wing populists differ in their attitudes toward equality: Right-wing populists justify or even amplify inequality, while leftists are guided by the core value of equality. However, both right- and left-wing populists think in a narrow, power-oriented way, which means that the rule of law and democracy mean little to them, or they even reject them. Accordingly, they vacillate between mutual hostility (as leftists or rightists) and tacit alliances against democracy or in favor of autocracy.

However politically significant the struggles between Right and Left
may be, they are no substitute for a shared commitment to democracy and the rule of law.