The promise and perils of populism: global perspectives

The (not so) surprising longevity of identity politics: contemporary challenges of the state-society compact in Central Eastern Europe

“…For one, it is because "people centred" politics have a much longer history in the region. The dynamic relationship between liberal democratic institutions of postcommunist Member States, political elites operating these institutions, and the publics that confirm the appropriateness of the political process with their expectations at regular intervals via the ballot box, are highly comparable with those in the wider Europe and beyond (Sandel 2018;Ayyangar 2017;Bugaric 2008;Buštíková and Guasti 2018). And while the people-centrism in domestic politics constricts and constrains the "real existing" diversity to be represented in the liberal democratic political process, states are uncritically accepted to serve the (purposefully vaguely-defined) "majority" that pivots on experiences of ethno-cultural, language, religious, civilisational, territorial and historical homogeneity.…”