Scholars should not just assume that populism is bad for democracy, but should instead concentrate on explaining populism’s positive and negative effects

With the rise of technocratic government in the wake of the eurocrisis, many now argue that populism is bad for democracy. Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser argues that this view is wrong-headed, and that there is no cross-regional research into the impacts of populism on democracy. Academics now need to focus on further empirical investigations into populism and its effects on liberal democracies, which may be positive or negative.