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# Is populism growing or in crisis: April 30 - May 06 on openDemocracy
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/is-populism-growing-or-in-crisis-april-30-may-06-on-opendemocracy/
- Published: 2012-05-14T14:05:13.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-23T01:01:13.000Z
- Description: As two elections shake Europe, the most powerful figure in Britain for the last 30 years, Rupert Murdoch, is humbled, and we get a new Editor-in-Chief.
- Author: openDemocracy Supporters
- Tags: The Week in 1 Minute, #Migrated, #en, #Import 2026-04-09 17:19, #appended-excerpt

Our guest Editor [Mary Kaldor](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/3804610c31&ref=opendemocracy.net) celebrates ten years of the [Global Civil Society yearbook](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/251eb33038&ref=opendemocracy.net) with **contemporary ideas on politics from below**: [Ferenc Miszlivetz](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/f450c72619&ref=opendemocracy.net) brilliant and gloomy on the EU’s fatal flaw after expansion, [Bernard Dreano](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/c91d6512cb&ref=opendemocracy.net) looks at the fate of Arab Spring; [Moyes](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/fc01919acc&ref=opendemocracy.net) and [Nash](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/d76d0eb76b&ref=opendemocracy.net) say that new technologies mean new forms of violence and demand twenty-first century disarmament from activists, while [Robin Murray](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/7ad7ea2478&ref=opendemocracy.net) charts the extraordinary rise of a mutual civil economy.

Nowhere else in the English language can you grasp **the realities of the pain in Greece.** In the second of two superb articles, Iannis Carras [patrols Athens for us](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/c4975f0ccb&ref=opendemocracy.net) after the vote and demands the fascists speak to openDemocracy (they refuse). Vassilis Mourdoukoutas fears a [‘liquidified country’](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/1b8058611e&ref=opendemocracy.net) writing just before vote - that was not helped by a weirdly brave [voting advice tool](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/9eeb44b06b&ref=opendemocracy.net).

You can follow **the French presidential election** in [11 sharp diary entries by](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/68b64f0623&ref=opendemocracy.net) [Philippe Marlière](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/2571632b4b&ref=opendemocracy.net), all still gripping reads, while [Patrice de Beer](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/4a902d0612&ref=opendemocracy.net) sums up the historic success of not to be under-estimated François Hollande, and [we look hard](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/11b858ae04&ref=opendemocracy.net) at Le Pen and the [events of Toulouse](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/f67b98b90d&ref=opendemocracy.net).

The British government agreed to transform the UK’s media environment to help NewsCorp, while knowing that **the Murdochs ran a criminal conspiracy**, argues [Anthony Barnett in a forensic, must-read account.](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/5247fb847a&ref=opendemocracy.net) If he is right David Cameron must resign.

These all pose a question: **is populism growing or in crisis?** You can ask it in **Russia,** where Medvedev’s return as prime minister looks anything but a done deal as a [contender emerges](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/f5835527b8&ref=opendemocracy.net); in **China,** where [the fall of Bo XiLai](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/c2b329f984&ref=opendemocracy.net) is historic; in **London,** as it [votes for its Mayor](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/63c6caee03&ref=opendemocracy.net); and in **the USA,** as Goldman Sachs [breaks the truckers](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/b43116e053&ref=opendemocracy.net). There is a young person’s view too, James Warner sees good in [The Hunger Games.](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/c72c307271&ref=opendemocracy.net)

**On 50.50**, following on from [Yakin Erturk’s unforgettable account](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/a720f897bf&ref=opendemocracy.net) of women caught in the crossfire of patriarchal culture wars, [Rebecca Johnson](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/a0df994684&ref=opendemocracy.net) launches her feed-back from the talks on Non-Proliferation in Vienna.

And [Graham Room](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/191cc4aea8&ref=opendemocracy.net) in the latest [Uneconomics](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/e13abcf793&ref=opendemocracy.net) debate says “euthanasia of the rentier”, no less, is essential for growth - and democracy. 

To end on a positive note, we were happy to introduce our new editor-in-chief: welcome on board [Magnus Nome](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/10a146a16f&ref=opendemocracy.net).

**Four links not to miss:**

[Desertec - solar energy from North African deserts to power Europe](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/bfcbc7795f&ref=opendemocracy.net)

[Greece’s painful transition](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/d9afa8c39c/id=09061&ty=pdf&ref=opendemocracy.net)

The [Military-Academic-Industrial-Media complex](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/d4f16aab6d&ref=opendemocracy.net)....

[Iceland’s president speaks up](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/0e1736fe7d/google%5Feditors%5Fpicks=true&ref=opendemocracy.net)

**openDemocracy’s week in 400 words is emailed to Members and Friends to help pay for our great content. Please forward this to any contact you think might be interested and want to join; they should see** [**here**](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/8cfe842d5c/b5696a98c8/7ad1fd1109/openDemocracy/f77387a52a/TEST/549e0b3d21&ref=opendemocracy.net) **or email**[**supporters@opendemocracy.net**](mailto:supporters@opendemocracy.net)**.**

*As two elections shake Europe, the most powerful figure in Britain for the last 30 years, Rupert Murdoch, is humbled, and we get a new Editor-in-Chief.*