The ‘rise of populism’ has become a dominant interpretative theory used for the understanding of contemporary politics. Populism is a basic democratic ideology, according to which politicians should follow the will of the people no matter what: they should not attempt to distort this will or educate the people but should just reflect their preferences and and incorporate them in authoritative decisions. From this point of view populism is essentially the elimination of self-restraint in politics: it is a minimalistic democratic ideology, which argues that the people are mature enough to make up their own mind and take their own decisions, and that their choices should not be constrained by the instruments of constitutionalism or the guardianship of political parties and leaders....