The traditional, and to many still compelling, objection to democracy as a form of government is that it is open to DemagoguerY?. It is (famously) for this reason that the UnitedStates was established, strictly speaking, as a RepubliC? rather than a DemocracY. Thus BenjaminFranklin?'s famous answer, to the question as to what sort of government TheFoundingFathers? had established, was: "A Republic, if you can keep it."
DemagoguerY? is identical to PopulisM? according to those in power. This is why businesspeople frequently condemn democracy wherever it gives the "wrong" socialist result. One can define DemagoguerY? as appealing to the base instincts of the masses, and PopulisM? as appealing to the enlightened interests of the masses.
See DirectDemocracy?; TechnoDemocracy; RepubliC?; DemocraticRepublic?; RepublicanisM?; DemagoguerY?; ThePeople?.