當代訴諸「人民」之名的政治力量，在政策主張、意識形態與社會基礎上差異甚大，卻皆被置於民粹主義的範疇之下討論。本文據此將提問從「什麼是民粹」轉向「人民如何形構」，並處理兩個彼此銜接的研究問題。其一，在當代民粹政治中，「人民」如何形構，以及論述接合、情感投注與技術中介如何參與這一過程。其二，對於以「人民」之名形成的政治對抗，應以何種規範性標準判斷其是否仍屬民主政治中的正當競逐。
在人民形構的問題上，首先以Ernesto Laclau的民粹理論為基礎，說明原本分散的社會訴求如何經由等同鏈與空符徵被連結為共同的「我們」。繼而以羞恥(shame)作為理解情感投注的切入點，考察自我價值受損的經驗如何被重新理解為共同處境，並在不同的政治敘事與責任歸因中，與怨恨、義憤及希望等情感相互連結，呈現不同的政治轉化方向。同時，本文將技術中介納入分析，考察演算法可見性、生成式人工智慧與平台時間性如何改變政治接合的條件，並以西班牙Podemos（意為「我們能」）與不屈法國(La France Insoumise, LFI)為例，說明政治力量也能透過自身的技術與組織安排，在既有的數位環境中創造較有利於動員之條件。
規範層面則從Chantal Mouffe的爭論式民主出發，以敵人與對手的區分來理解民主政治中的對抗，並主張政治對抗無須被消除，重要的是競爭者間即使立場相左，仍將彼此視為正當對手，而非亟欲消滅的敵人。本文再結合Nadia Urbinati對多數自我限制的分析，以及Andrew Arato與Jean L. Cohen對民粹政黨與政治人物掌權後之政治後果的批判，將規範問題延伸至人民形構與公權力結合之後，考察掌權者是否仍將自身視為暫時的多數，並為其他政治力量保留重新爭取多數與取得公權力的可能。據此，本文將政治競逐能否保持開放，作為判斷民粹政治是否逾越民主界限的重要判準。

Contemporary political forces that invoke the name of “the people” differ substantially in their policy positions, ideological orientations, and social bases, yet they are often discussed under the common rubric of populism. Against this background, this thesis shifts the question from “What is populism?” to “How is ‘the people’ formed?” and addresses two interconnected research questions. First, how is “the people” formed in contemporary populist politics, and how do discursive articulation, affective investment, and technological mediation participate in this process? Second, by what normative criteria should political conflicts conducted in the name of “the people” be assessed to determine whether they remain legitimate forms of contestation within democratic politics?
To address the formation of “the people,” this thesis begins with Ernesto Laclau’s theory of populism to explain how initially dispersed social demands are linked through an equivalential chain and an empty signifier to constitute a collective “we.” It then takes shame as an entry point to examine affective investment, investigating how experiences of damaged self-worth may be reinterpreted as a shared condition and, through different political narratives and attributions of responsibility, become linked to affects such as resentment, indignation, and hope, giving rise to different trajectories of political transformation. The analysis also incorporates technological mediation by examining how algorithmic visibility, generative artificial intelligence, and platform temporality alter the conditions of political articulation. Drawing on Spain’s Podemos (“We Can”) and France’s La France Insoumise (LFI) as examples, the thesis further demonstrates how political forces can, through their own technological and organizational arrangements, create conditions more conducive to mobilization within existing digital environments.
At the normative level, this thesis begins with Chantal Mouffe’s agonistic model of democracy and employs the distinction between enemies and adversaries to understand conflict within democratic politics. Political conflict need not be eliminated; what matters is that actors holding opposing positions continue to regard one another as legitimate adversaries rather than as enemies to be destroyed. The thesis then draws on Nadia Urbinati’s analysis of majority self-limitation and Andrew Arato and Jean L. Cohen’s critique of the political consequences of populist parties and political leaders once in power. This extends the normative inquiry to the point at which the formation of “the people” becomes coupled with the exercise of public power, examining whether those in power continue to regard themselves as a temporary majority and preserve the possibility for other political forces to compete for a new majority and attain public power. On this basis, the thesis treats the continued openness of political competition as an important criterion for assessing whether populist politics remains within the bounds of democracy.

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