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Politicians can be subject to the types of direct public pressure described above (6.4.2.1), but they can also anticipate pressure even if no-one has yet contacted them: they have other ways of gauging the public mood – through the media for example, as described below (6.4.3).
They can avoid public discontent by modifying their policies. This can be beneficial, if the result is increased acceptability of governance, but it can be harmful if it is ‘populist’ – which here means seeking short-term approval from large numbers of people without taking account of the need for inclusiveness or prudence.
Governments want the economy to be successful because that makes them popular, but it also makes them susceptible to several kinds of economic pressure (3.3.9.1). As described earlier, some democratic politicians respond to these pressures by adopting populist economic policies (6.3.2.5). Authoritarian governments are no less dependent upon popular support, and the need to deliver economic growth, but they are less susceptible to the very short-term pressures of elections; the Chinese government, for example, has published economic growth targets.[1]
There is also scope for populism in other areas of policy:
· Politicians can use legislation as a political tool, just to make themselves appear to be doing something, rather than use existing legislation (5.4.1.3) – which is cheaper and often more effective.
· As in examples which appear later in this chapter (6.7.4.2), they can try to exploit ethnic divisions to gain support – even though the outcomes can be horrific for the entire population.
All populist policies are distorted responses to the politicians’ need for public support. The need for power should be a healthy incentive for politicians to perform in the best interests of the population; it should not be an excuse for populism.
© PatternsofPower.org, 2014
[1] On 6 March 2014, Reuters published an article entitled China's 7.5 percent GDP growth target is flexible: finance minister, which included the following:
“Lou Jiwei told a briefing at China's annual parliament meeting that the government has three broad economic policy goals each year: create jobs, control inflation and boost the economy. He said jobs are the most important of the three.”
This article was available at http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/06/us-china-parliament-finance-idUSBREA2503I20140306.