In recent years, many Europeans countries have been confronted with the emergence of populist leaders – a.o. Berlusconi, Putin, Le Pen (père et fille), Wilders – who claim to speak for the people, and often are able to attract a large following on the basis of their critique of parliamentary politics and established political parties. While current research generally focuses on the contemporary crisis of democracy to explain the rise of this type of leaders, in this session we aim to explore their historical roots. They are the product of a long-standing tradition of Bonapartist democracy, which since the early nineteenth century has been an alternative to parliamentary democracy. This tradition has its roots in the practices of direct modes of participation explored by Napoleon I and III, aimed to legitimize a regime by popular acclamation, like the plebiscite and the referendum. But it is a tradition that is not confined to France, nor to the nineteenth century. Also, better than to assume this is an alternative to democracy, it is analyzed here as an alternative tradition of democracy, revealing the contradictions of popular sovereignty as one of the defining characteristics of European history, and possibly also its future.