The collapse of state socialism brought about social liberalization, political democratization and economic privatization, but these transformations never ran smoothly or in the same direction in all post-communist states. By… Read more »
The experience of post-war Europe shows that if democracy is effective and responsive, there will be little constituency for explicit antidemocratic or radical appeals, and governments and other political actors… Read more »
Something odd happens when the elites discuss the crisis of western democracy. No one wants to fault the public, at least not in so many words. That would be Marie… Read more »
Support for populist parties and agreement with populist views have diminished during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a “mega-dataset” assessing political attitudes of over half a million people across 109… Read more »
The danger posed by populism lies in the damage leaders can do to the norms and institutions of liberal democracy. However, a new report finds that, in most of the… Read more »
Much of today’s populist backlash can be attributed to an “extremely ruthless and competitive version of neoliberalism,” according to Stanford University’s Francis Fukuyama. “A lot of today’s populist backlash is… Read more »
Wishful thinking is typical among opponents of authoritarian populists. But populist presidents and prime ministers, on average, stay in office twice as long as non-populist ones: six and a half… Read more »
Nationalist populist movements, fueled by resentment against ruling elites, typically attack the norms and procedures of liberal democracy, viewing them as rigged, corrupted, or under the control of nefarious… Read more »
“Liberal democracy has responded to the populist mobilization with a democratic counter-mobilization – also and especially in the political center,” says @BertelsmannSt https://t.co/AwjM9BJ91r — Democracy Digest (@demdigest) September 3, 2020… Read more »
In 1911, Robert Michels (1876-1936), an Italian political sociologist, published “Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy,” postulating the “iron law of oligarchy.” Michels, who… Read more »