Is populism still a threat to liberal democracy?
Since liberal democracy is linked to better policy outcomes, its resilience to populist threats is strong over the long run.
Since liberal democracy is linked to better policy outcomes, its resilience to populist threats is strong over the long run.
Date: 2022
Author: Constantinos Saravakos, PhD Candidate at the University of Macedonia and Research Coordinator at the Center for Liberal Studies – Markos Dragoumis (KEFiM)
This paper seeks to explore the latest trends of populism and its threats to liberal democracy in Europe. Although liberal democracy was destined to thrive since 1991 and managed to offer a better life to millions of people until the late 00s, during the last decade, the threats of the economic crises, the rise of populism and the Covid-19 emergency seem to have challenged its survival. Populist parties managed to make electoral gains and erode the liberal component of modern Democracies. However, recent election results showed that some populist tides were reversed, while empirical research demonstrated that liberal democracy is linked to better policy outcomes and its resilience to populist threats seems to be strong in the long run.