In person icon How can civil society defend democracy against hte people's true representatives ? On the Justifiability, Feasibility and Effectiveness of Civil Society Initiatives Opposing (far-right) Populist Parties

Abstract

There are numerous studies of what populism is and what explains it, but few studies of responses to populism and even less of appropriate responses. Not all, but some populist parties constitute a challenge to democracy and this challenge raises the question about who are able to respond effectively to problematic populist parties in a way that is consistent with democratic principles so that responses do not make the situation worse. This panel provides part of the answer. Integrating political science and political theory, the participants will discuss the effectiveness of responses of European civil society actors to populist parties in opposition and in government and evaluate their consistency with liberal democratic principles. Our contributions are (i) a new innovative framework for studying the effectiveness of responses to populists, (ii) the framework’s application to responses by civil society organizations (rather than parties and public authorities), and (iii) the necessary combination of empirical studies and normative theory in the identification of legitimate responses to populists under more or less ideal circumstances.

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