The small city of Kouvola lies in forests where once the paper industry thrived. Recently, the region has suffered from closing factories and loss of jobs. Kouvola is one of the most important strongholds for the Finns Party. The following excerpts are taken from a focus group of party supporters.
An excerpt from the debate on discriminatory internet sites and government reactions (March 13, 2012, Strasbourg), followed by commentary on the political language.
Scepticism is healthy for democracy, but not when it degenerates into belief in conspiracy theories. Dieudonné and Jobbik are but two recent examples that the conspiratorial mindset is alive and well in Europe.
Does Beppe Grillo's Five Star Movement belong to the political family that ranges from the French National Front to Golden Dawn, or has it invented its very own kind of populism?
The EU must move fast and persistently to convince potential voters to gain confidence in its relevance and abilities. Here is how to reframe the debate.
When the parties claim that they hear what the public is saying about, say, immigration, the public knows it is being told what it thinks the parties want it to hear. What has been lost is any sense that the parties speak from conviction.
Populism may not be entirely coherent (what ideology is in its lived form?) but it has a consistent logic, and a line of distinction along which it treads that marks it out and accounts for its power. We should beware of falling into the many traps it creates for democrats.
Poland has two populisms: “the populism of the dispirited”, mobilising those who struggled to adjust to life in the new Poland; and a form of neo-liberal populism, embracing free market capitalism and excluding those who did not prosper. Both have deep roots in Poland’s history.
Last year, Marine Le Pen came third in the French presidential elections, following a campaign seeking to de-demonise the party and make it more attractive to a broader electorate. While it is arguable whether her strategy was entirely successful, the changes made may well have long-term consequen
In this excerpt from ‘Sweden: the reluctant nation’, published as part of Counterpoint’s ‘Europe’s Reluctant Radicals’ project, Göran Rosenberg explores the history of the Swedish political ideal of ‘folkhemmet’ [the people’s home].
In the wake of the Italian elections, this excerpt from ‘Stagioni del populismo italiano’ examines populism in Italy’s political past and present. How did Guglielmo Giannini’s Qualunquismo movement influence the most recent forms of populism: those of the former Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi,
