A People's Federation? Populism, Deliberation and Federal Reform

Abstract

In some ways populism provides a starkly poor fit to federal decision making – including decision making about a federation itself. As I describe in this chapter, contemporary populism is at once impatient for, and prone to derailing, federal reform. However, after diagnosing problems, I turn to consider institutional routes around them. The best solutions – those perhaps most able to restart stalled progress toward reform – may be those aiming to harness and redirect, rather than deny, populism’s rising tide. In this regard, deliberative democratic approaches to reform appear to hold particular promise.