Populism in Europe

All over Europe, Green and left-wing political parties are confronted with rising political movements that claim to speak in the name of ´the people´. These right-wing populist movements pit themselves against mainstream politics, which they regard as elitist. Their proclaimed aim is to protect the identity of the ´Christian Western civilization´ by closing borders and attacking cultural, ethnic and religious minorities. They threaten the most fundamental European values, since they deny notions of diversity, open-mindedness, critical (self)reflection and tolerance. Their discourse touches the essence of democracy and cannot be left without a retort. In this collection of essays, politicians, scientists and journalists from different parts of Europe take up the urgent challenge of analysing what is going on in our societies today. The authors try to formulate the questions Green parties in particular have to answer when it comes to combating these ´fantasts of simplification´, as Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Edouard Gaudot call the populists in their contribution. Rightwing populism, this volume reveals, poses the great challenge to Green parties all over Europe to review their own political concepts and narratives. If they intend to be of significance for the future of Europe, they will have to offer a real alternative to populism in our pluralistic and unruly European reality. This book is an exercise in transgressing our own national, political and intellectual borders, and is as such already a retort to populism.