Populism

The European Union today is witnessing an ideological battle over its economy and politics. A cycle of austerity, fuelled by short-sightedness and irrationality, is creating a major setback for European integration and driving disillusioned citizens to turn away from the European project in even greater numbers. While dissenting voices and visions are silenced, this amounts to an attack on democracy and solidarity. An interview with Mar Garcia Sanz and Ska Keller.

In an interview with GEJ, Hungarian sociologist Agnes Gagyi explains why struggles differ from East to West, and why the educated middle class has become so prominent in today’s movements.

The left is ideologically exhausted. But this is just as true for the right, no matter where you’re looking, whether it’s at the buzzwords of the FPÖ (Freedom Party of Austria), at UKIP, the Front National or the radical-primitive opposition of the Tea Party in the United States.

In Serbia, there is an increasing sense among many citizens that prior to democracy citizens life was better and people felt more secure. Apart from certain minimum standards such as holding elections, democracy in Serbia still has a long way to go. Now the question is, should we so easily give up on our hard-won freedom?

Beset by the crises occurring internally and in its immediate neighbourhood, the EU has neglected its relations with South East Asia. This is a major shortcoming, since that region is becoming the epicentre of global relations and will play an increasingly important role for international security.

In light of the wave of populism continuing to gain ground, many European leaders are adopting the intolerant and scapegoating rhetoric of the far right. More than ever, social alliances against the extreme right are needed in order to counteract this trend and to promote the values of a Europe of solidarity.

The AfD is elbowing its way into the right-wing populist gap in the party political landscape with a call for a nationalistic approach to economic policy based on free market fundamentalism. As a counter-reaction to the pluralist and multicultural immigration society, it stands in opposition to everything that is Green.

With hard-right parties on the rise across Europe, Greens can learn from this recent surge in ‘populism’ by developing a positive and inclusive conception of the term. A Grand Narrative about a ‘Europe of hearts’ can speak to people directly and produce a different kind of patriotism to that of the nationalists: Europatriotism.

The Fifth Republic in France has become characterised by an increasingly narrow political class, while the political engagement of citizens has plummeted. The EU has not succeeded in improving these weaknesses in democracy, which can only be surmounted through a successful campaign for deep reform: a transition to the Sixth Republic.

The economic crisis and the democracy crisis share some of the same causes: redefining the ideal of democracy, the impotence of current regulatory methods in the face of collective decision-making, and a crisis within political programmes.