Imitating Democracy and Populism as an Attribute of Modern World Countries

• Author: Mariia Pryziglei
• Position: Ph.D. in Political Science, Presidium of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine)
• Pages: 77-88

Ukrainian Policymaker, Volume 5, 2019 77

Imitating Democracy and Populism as an Attribute

of Modern World Countries

Mariia Pryziglei1

Ph.D. in Political Science, Presidium of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

(Kyiv, Ukraine)

E-mail: m.pryziglei@gmail.com

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3449-8412

Pryziglei, Mariia (2019) Imitating Democracy and Populism as an Attribute of Modern World

Countries. Ukrainian Policymaker, Volume 5, 77-88. https://doi.org/10.29202/up/5/9

Spreading of imitation democracy and populism as the attributes of modern world countries are

analyzed in the article. It is established that a totalitarian-democratic society, as a rule, is characterized

by illusory economic prosperity, multicultural diversity of customs and traditions, free access to

information and dissemination, many freedoms and conveniences. All this illusion is actively supported

by the government and the media, which in such societies are directly controlled by the state or belonging

to groups loyal to power and serve as a tool for balancing and counteracting antagonistic movements. It

is revealed that the totalitarian-democratic regime seeks to integrate any opposition and absorb possible

alternatives to the development of the state. That is, on the one hand, the establishment of imitative

democracy proclaims the state democratic, formally enshrining all the principles of a democratic

society, and on the other, insulates civil society from participation in the formation and exercise of public

authority. In addition, totalitarian democracy does not seek to resolve social contradictions, but obscures

them with a screen with false symbols and values.

It has been found that since the activities of antagonistic movements in totalitarian democracies

are not a threat to their existence, critically-minded activists are generally not persecuted or even

encouraged. The government seeks to create the conditions under which any criticism becomes trivial

and routine and, accordingly, imperceptible to most of society.

The proposals on the necessary actions for overcoming the “challenge” of populism and minimizing

the risks of spreading the regime of imitative democracy in the world are highlighted, in particular:

mobilization of civil society in support of democratic institutions; strengthening the rationalization

and institutionalization of the political process; political isolation of populists through the formation of

large centrist coalitions in parliaments; more active involvement of citizens in the democratic process of

decision-making; formulating an attractive program agenda; attracting new people to centrist parties.

Keywords: political regime, liberal democracy, imitative democracy, populism, anti-liberal political

movements

Received: December 2, 2019; accepted: December 11, 2019

© Pryziglei, Mariia, 2019