| Abstract [eng] |
As party democracy and party representation face a crisis, populist political actors gain more influence. If populism is understood to offer the vision of united society and united political elite, then it, a thin-centered ideology, contradicts the principles of party representation. The basis of the scholarly debate if populism is a threat to representative democracy is the definition of representative democracy. The dissertation explores the conception of representation of the Lithuanian populist parties and its relation with representative (party) democracy. The empirical analysis of the populist conception of representation reveals that the diversity of society groups and is seen as an obstacle to successful representation. Proper representation must not take into account the diversity of the groups of the society, but they should be united in the general objective of the well-being of the people and the implementation of good governance. Representation is necessary to connect different groups of the society and to create their unity with the representatives. The co-existence of the representees and the representatives through constant communication permits the abandonment not only of parties as mediators, but also of representation itself. |
