The Specter Haunting Europe: Distinguishing Liberal Democracy’s Challengers

Citation: Takis S. Pappas (2016) The Specter Haunting Europe: Distinguishing Liberal Democracy’s Challengers. Journal of Democracy (RSS)
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Download: http://www.journalofdemocracy.org/sites/default/files/Pappas-27-4.pdf
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Summary

Describes groups opposing each of 3 pillars of European Union project:

1. antidemocrats vs democratic representation, "the spreading of pluralist parliamentary democracy to nation after nation across the continent"
2. nativists vs European integration, "the forging of a multiethnic, multicultural, and “ever closer” union of European peoples and states"
3. populists vs political liberalism, "the continual advancement of political liberalism"

Proposes a typology with two criteria (democraticness and liberalism).

Antidemocrats (democraticness: false, liberalism: false) on right include pre-2011 National Front, Golden Dawn, Movement for a Better Hungary, Vlaams Blok, British National Party and left are communist parties falsely called populist prefer state control with a penchant for violence and leadership cults.

Nativists (democraticness: true, liberalism: true; but only for the natives') include post-2011 National Front, Freedom Party of Austria, Dutch Party for Freedom, Danish People’s Party, Norway’s Progress Party, Sweden Democrats, the Finns (PS, formerly known as the True Finns), the Swiss People’s Party, the U.K. Independence Party, and Alternative for Germany.

Populists (democraticness: true, liberalism: false) examples on right include Forza Italia, Fidesz, Law&Justice, and left Smer–Social Democracy, Podemos.

Liberals (democraticness: true, liberalism: true) support the EU project.

There are no instances of (democraticness: false, liberalism: true).

Analysis suggests research questions (quotes):

• What is the physical and social “geography” of the challenger parties?
• In what areas and among what sorts of people do they exert their strongest appeal, and why?
• What is their political potential?
• How much of the electorate might they attract?
• What are the nature and severity of the various challenges that each might pose for European democracy?

Concludes that successful parties and electoral success needed, cannot rely on courts only to defend project, and that populism is the largest threat due to electoral success.