Over the past decade, a number of ethno-populist parties have come to power and undermined liberal democratic institutions in Europe and beyond. Why have citizens failed to act as effective bulwarks against such democratic backsliding? How aligned with such subversion of liberal democracy have their electoral supporters been? Do they instead prefer the majoritarian conceptions of democracy that are more consistent with the emphasis populist ideology places on popular sovereignty and majority rule? Or do they have affinity for non-democratic norms and practices altogether?
Natasha Wunsch and Tsveta Petrova present experimental evidence from Central and Eastern Europe to interrogate citizen preferences about populism and democracy in the region.
Speakers:
Tsveta Petrova, Lecturer in the Discipline of Political Science, Columbia University, and Faculty Advisor to the MA program in European History, Politics, and Society at the European Institute
Natasha Wunsch, Assistant Professor in Political Science/European Integration at Sciences Po, Centre for European Studies and Comparative Politics (CEE), and Senior Researcher with the Center for Comparative and International Studies at ETH Zurich
Moderator:
Carlo Invernizzi Accetti, Professor of Political Science and Executive Director, Moynihan Center, City University of New York – City College, and Visiting Professor, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
This event is cosponsored by the European Institute, the Harriman Institute, and the East Central European Center
(Illustration: far right march on Polish Independence Day, Warsaw, November 2017. via Pixabay)