Larry Bartels: Democracy Erodes from the Top – Europe’s Real Populist Challenge

The Moynihan Institute’s Center for European Studies presents Larry M. Bartels, University Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Law from Vanderbilt University, as a part of its Challenges to Citizenship Series.

A seeming explosion of right-wing populism has triggered fears for the liberal democracies of Europe. Bartels argues that the root of this crisis is not populist sentiment, which has hardly changed in the past two decades. The real threat is from political leaders who exploit or mismanage chronic vulnerabilities of democracy. Populist electoral gains have been modest, and often fueled by media hype and the failures of mainstream parties. Europe’s most sobering examples of democratic backsliding—in Hungary and Poland—occurred not because voters wanted authoritarianism but because conventional conservative parties, once elected, seized opportunities to entrench themselves in power.

This is event is co-sponsored by the Moynihan Institute’s Study of Global Politics and the Political Science Department.