A world threatened by populism. Remarks on security in modern times

Abstract

The article is an attempt to answer the question about the importance of populism in contemporary reflection on security in its broadest sense. The author of these analyses tries to find the reasons for the growing populist trend, which occurs not only in the political dimension, but permeates almost all social life. In the context of such a goal, the connection between populism and ideology and nihilism is shown. As a consequence of the methodological principles adopted, two types of populism were distinguished: ideological and nihilistic. Ideological populism is characterized by a high degree of indeterminacy and makes far-reaching simplifications and generalisations. In this perspective, the enemies of the people are both newcomers, strangers, immigrants, as well as sexual, ethnic and other minorities.Nihilist populism is more depressing. It is based on the recognition of fragmentation as a basic indicator of values. The individual, detached from the wider background, is in a way the programme of populism understood in this way. A simple consequence of nihilistic populism is the uprooting of the individual, which results in consumerist attitudes. In this sense, one can say that nihilistic populism is aimed at justifying consumptionism, i.e. it provides an ideological foundation for the carefree use of material goods.