Nationalism vs Populism: Two Forces Challenging Liberal Democracy

Nationalism and populism are the two most important political forces challenging liberal democratic norms in the 21st century. Often found together, they are analytically distinct — and understanding the difference matters for analyzing contemporary politics.

ideology

Nationalism

Ideology that places the nation at the center of political loyalty and argues that political power should protect national identity, sovereignty, and self-determination. It can be civic or ethnic, emancipatory or exclusionary, depending on how the nation is defined.

Ideology

Varies (left to right)

ideology

Populism

Political style or ideology that pits a supposedly authentic people against a corrupt elite and demands that politics reflect the popular will more directly. It can attach itself to left-wing, right-wing, democratic, or authoritarian projects.

Ideology

Varies (left to right)

Definitions

Nationalism is the political doctrine that nations — defined by shared ethnicity, culture, language, or history — are the primary units of political legitimacy and that each nation should govern itself. It can be liberal (civic nationalism, democratic self-determination) or illiberal (ethnic nationalism, exclusion of minorities). Populism is a political style or logic that divides society into "the pure people" and "the corrupt elite" and claims that democratic legitimacy belongs exclusively to the people as represented by the populist leader. Populism is not a substantive ideology — there are left-wing populisms (Chávez) and right-wing populisms (Trump, Orbán) that share the anti-elite framing while differing on economics.

Where they overlap

Contemporary right-wing populism typically combines both: national identity (against immigration, "globalists," and cosmopolitan elites) and populist anti-establishment politics (against the "deep state," mainstream media, and technocratic institutions). Figures like Viktor Orbán, Marine Le Pen, and Donald Trump are nationalist-populists — their appeal requires both elements. The nationalist component defines who "the people" are; the populist component defines who their enemies are. Neither nationalism nor populism alone fully explains the phenomenon.

Challenges to liberal democracy

Liberal democracy depends on pluralism — the acceptance that multiple groups and viewpoints have legitimate standing within the political system. Ethnic nationalism challenges pluralism by defining national membership in exclusive terms that exclude minorities. Populism challenges pluralism by claiming that only the populist's supporters constitute "the real people" — delegitimizing opposition as inherently corrupt or anti-national. Both, in their illiberal forms, therefore undermine the foundational rules of democratic competition.

Historical context

Nationalism was the primary political force that shaped the 19th and early 20th centuries — producing both democratic self-determination movements and catastrophic ethnic violence culminating in WWI, WWII, and genocide. The postwar liberal order attempted to tame nationalism through international institutions, minority rights frameworks, and European integration. Populism has appeared in waves — Latin American populism in the 1930s–1960s, European right-wing populism from the 1990s onward, the global wave from 2015–2022. The relationship between them is not fixed: nationalism can exist without populism (as in liberal civic nationalism) and populism can exist without nationalism (as in left-wing economic populism).