A demagogue (; ; ), or rabble-rouser, is a political leader in a democracy who gains popularity by arousing the common people against elites, especially through oratory that whips up the passions of crowds, appealing to emotion by scapegoating out-groups, exaggerating dangers to stoke fears, lying for emotional effect, or other rhetoric that tends to drown out reasoned deliberation and encourage fanatical popularity. Demagogues overturn established norms of political conduct, or promise or threaten to do so.
Historian Reinhard Luthin defined demagogue as "a politician skilled in oratory, flattery and invective; evasive in discussing vital issues; promising everything to everybody; appealing to the passions rather than the reason of the public; and arousing racial, religious, and class prejudices—a man whose lust for power without recourse to principle leads him to seek to become a master of the masses. He has for centuries practiced his profession of 'man of the people'. He is a product of a political tradition nearly as old as western civilization itself."
Demagogues have appeared in democracies since ancient Athens. Because ultimate power is held by the people, it is possible for them to give it to someone who appeals to the lowest common denominator of a large segment of the population. Demagogues have usually advocated immediate, forceful action to address a crisis while accusing moderate and thoughtful opponents of weakness or disloyalty. Many demagogues elected to high executive office have unraveled constitutional limits on executive power and tried to convert their democracy into a dictatorship, sometimes successfully.
History and definition of the word
Demagogue, a term originally referring to a leader of the common people, was first coined in ancient Greece with no negative connotation, but eventually came to mean a troublesome kind of leader who occasionally arose in Athenian democracy. Even though democracy gave power to the common people, elections still tended to favor the aristocratic class, which favored deliberation and decorum. Demagogues were a new kind of leader who emerged from the lower classes. Demagogues relentlessly advocated action, usually violent—immediately and without deliberation.
The term "demagogue" has been used to disparage leaders perceived as manipulative, pernicious, or bigoted. However, what distinguishes a demagogue can be defined independently of whether the speaker favors or opposes a certain political leader. A demagogue is defined by how they gain or hold democratic power: by exciting the passions of the lower classes and less-educated people in a democracy toward rash or violent action and breaking established democratic institutions such as the rule of law. James Fenimore Cooper in 1838 identified four fundamental characteristics of demagogues: They present themselves as a man or woman of the common people, opposed to the elites. Their politics depends on a visceral connection with the people, which greatly exceeds ordinary political popularity. They manipulate this connection, and the raging popularity it affords, for their own benefit and ambition. They threaten or outright break established rules of conduct, institutions, and even the law.
Their methods are known as demagoguery or demagogy. The central feature of demagoguery is persuasion by means of passion, shutting down reasoned deliberation and consideration of alternatives. While many politicians in a democracy make occasional small sacrifices of truth, subtlety, or long-term concerns to maintain popular support, demagogues do these things relentlessly and without self-restraint. Demagogues "pander to passion, prejudice, bigotry, and ignorance, rather than reason."
The Austrian philosopher of language and political scientist differentiates between populism and demagoguery, asserting that "[a] central aspect that distinguishes populism from demagoguery is that demagogues in politics possess substantial systemic power for mobilization, which poses a serious threat to democracy." In political practice, he argues, a clear indication of demagoguery is when "the person, the party, and the political program merge, manifesting as over-identification and over-personalization in a single leading figure."
History and characteristics of demagogues
Demagogues have risen to power in democracies from Athens to the present day. While many demagogues have unique, colorful personalities, the psychological tactics they use have been similar throughout history (see below).
Often considered the first demagogue, Cleon of Athens is remembered mainly for the brutality of his rule and his near destruction of Athenian democracy, resulting from his "common-man" appeal to disregard the moderate customs of the aristocratic elite. Modern demagogues include Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and Joseph McCarthy, all of whom built mass followings the same way that Cleon did: by exciting the passions of the masses against customs and norms of the aristocratic elites of their times. All, ancient and modern, meet Cooper's four criteria above: claiming to represent the common people, inciting intense passions among them, exploiting those reactions to take power, and breaking or at least threatening established rules of political conduct, though each in different ways.
Demagogues have often exploited the lower classes and less-educated people in society. While democracies are designed to ensure freedom for all and popular control over government authority, demagogues gain power by using popular support to undermine those same freedoms and laws. The Greek historian Polybius thought that democracies are inevitably undone by demagogues. He said that every democracy eventually decays into "a government of violence and the strong hand", leading to "tumultuous assemblies, massacres, banishments".
While conventional wisdom positions democracy and fascism as opposites, ancient political theorists understood that democracy had an innate tendency to lead to an extreme populist government and provide demagogues with an ideal opportunity to gain power. Ivo Mosley argued that totalitarian regimes may be the logical outcome of unfettered mass democracy.Ivo Mosley, Democracy, Fascism and the New World Order, Imprint Academic (2003)
Emotional oratory and personal charisma Many demagogues have demonstrated remarkable skill at moving audiences to great emotional depths and heights during a speech. Sometimes this is due to exceptional verbal eloquence, sometimes personal charisma, and sometimes both.
Hitler often began his speeches by speaking slowly, in a low, resonant voice, telling of his life in poverty after serving in World War I, suffering in the chaos and humiliation of postwar Germany, and resolving to reawaken the Fatherland. Gradually, he would escalate the tone and tempo of his speech, ending in a climax in which he expressed his hatred of groups he currently perceived as standing in his way—mocking them, ridiculing them, insulting them, and threatening them with destruction. Hitler was not born with these vocal and oratorical skills; he acquired them through long and deliberate practice.
A more ordinary silver-tongued demagogue was James Kimble Vardaman (Governor of Mississippi 1904–1908, Senator 1913–1919), admired even by his opponents for his oratorical gifts and colorful language. An example, responding to Theodore Roosevelt's having invited black people to a reception at the White House: "Let Teddy take coons to the White House. I should not care if the walls of the ancient edifice should become so saturated with the effluvia from the rancid carcasses that a Chinch bug would have to crawl upon the dome to avoid asphyxiation."
Tactics There are a number of common tactics demagogues have employed throughout history to manipulate public sentiment and incite crowds. Not all demagogues use all of these methods, and no two demagogues use exactly the same methods to gain popularity and loyalty. Even ordinary politicians use some of these techniques from time to time; a politician who failed to stir emotions at all would have little hope of being elected. What these techniques have in common, and what distinguishes demagogues' use of them, is their consistent intent to prevent reasoned deliberation by stirring up overwhelming passion.
In contrast to a demagogue, a politician's ordinary rhetoric seeks "to calm rather than excite, to conciliate rather than divide, and to instruct rather than flatter."
Scapegoating The most fundamental demagogic technique is scapegoating: blaming the in-group's troubles on an out-group, usually of a different ethnicity, religion, or social class. For example, McCarthy claimed that all of the problems of the U.S. resulted from "communist subversion." Denis Kearney blamed all the problems of laborers in California on Chinese immigrants. Hitler blamed Jews for Germany's defeat in World War I as well as the economic troubles that came afterward. This was central to his appeal: many people said that the only reason they liked Hitler was because he was against the Jews. Fixing blame on the Jews gave Hitler a way to intensify nationalism and unity.
The claims made about the scapegoated class are mostly the same regardless of the demagogue and regardless of the scapegoated class or the nature of the crisis that the demagogue is exploiting. "We" are the "true" , and "they", the , have cheated "us" plain folk and are living in decadent luxury off riches that rightfully belong to "us". "They" are plotting to take over, are now rapidly taking power, or are already secretly running the country. "They" are subhuman, sexual perverts who will seduce or rape "our" daughters, and if "we" do not expel or exterminate "them" right away, doom is just around the corner.
Fearmongering Many demagogues have risen to power by evoking fear in their audiences, to stir them to action and prevent deliberation. Fear of rape, for example, is easily evoked. "Pitchfork Ben" Tillman's rhetoric was most vivid when he was describing imaginary scenes in which white women were raped by black men lurking by the side of the road. He depicted black men as having an innate "character weakness" consisting of a fondness for raping white women. Tillman was elected governor of South Carolina in 1890, and elected senator repeatedly from 1895 to 1918.
After the September 11 attacks in the United States, terrorism and national security became prominent political issues. After Democrats lost control of the Congress in 2004, former U.S. president Bill Clinton opined: "When people are feeling insecure, they'd rather have someone who is strong and wrong rather than somebody who is weak and right." The Clinton aphorism was later applied to describe why the political tactics of Donald Trump were successful, and how Democrats might do better in related elections.
Lying Demagogues typically choose their words for their emotional effect on the audience, often without regard for factual truth or for potential danger. Demagogues are opportunistic, saying whatever will generate controversy and spur public energy. Other demagogues may believe falsehoods they tell.
If one lie does not work, a demagogue often adds more lies. Joseph McCarthy claimed to have a list of 205 members of the Communist Party working in the State Department. Then, he announced there were 57 "card-carrying Communists". When pressed for names, McCarthy said that records were not available to him, but he knew "absolutely" that "approximately" 300 Communists were certified to the Secretary of State for discharge but "approximately" 80 were actually discharged. McCarthy never found a Communist in the State Department.
Accusing opponents of weakness and disloyalty