Popular sovereignty plays a central role in both the democratic and the populist ideology. While democracy’s version of qualified sovereignty is accepted as mutually constitutive with the rule of law, populism’s version of absolute sovereignty is seen as incompatible with this ideal. The article reconsiders this oversimplifying approach. By examining the interaction of these concepts with a nuanced account of the rule of law, it argues for the compatibility of both democracy and populism with different versions of this ideal. While this remains a key distinguishing factor between democracy and populism, the ambiguity of the rule of law still allows populism to claim that it complies with a thin version of this concept.

人民主权在民主和民粹主义意识形态中都发挥着核心作用。虽然民主版本的合格主权被认为与法治是相互构成的，但民粹主义版本的绝对主权被视为与这一理想不相容。这篇文章重新考虑了这种过于简单化的方法。通过检查这些概念与法治的微妙描述之间的相互作用，它论证了民主和民粹主义与这种理想的不同版本的兼容性。虽然这仍然是区分民主和民粹主义的关键因素，但法治的模糊性仍然允许民粹主义声称它符合这一概念的简化版本。