Addressing the paradox of tolerance in liberal democracies: why do France and Germany respond differently to right-wing radicalism?

2022 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Bénédicte Laumond
Keyword(s):  
Right Wing ◽  
Liberal Democracies

scholarly journals Creating Suspicion and Vigilance

Intersections ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ákos Kopper ◽  
Pál Susánszky ◽  
Gergely Tóth ◽  
Márton Gerő
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Political System ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Significant Case ◽  
The Government ◽  
Government Rules ◽  
The Right

In recent years, many theoretical and empirical analyses about the changing regimes of Central and Eastern Europe have been written, pointing out the authoritarian tendencies and radicalization in the region. Hungary is a significant case in the changing landscape of Central and Eastern Europe. The right-wing government rules the country with incontestable force, despising and disrespecting the norms of liberal democracies. Although the general impression is that the government has such a strong grip on power that resisting it is futile, in fact, it only enjoys only the support of 30 per cent of Hungarian citizens. Thus, it would be reasonable to expect the opposition to be able to effectively mobilize against the regime. In reality, no political opponent seems to stand a chance of defeating it. In order to explain why this is so, we focus on the way Orbán constantly creates images of ‘the enemy’ that keep alive an atmosphere of vigilance that blocks the efforts of critical actors to efficiently mobilize citizens. Since the political system in Hungary is highly centralized, the prime-minister’s speeches epitomize the logic and ideology of the regime. Our aim is to understand the mechanism through which the dominant political actors frame the enemy in a system of images, thereby creating an environment where critical actors are stripped of the resources needed to mobilize against them.

scholarly journals Kształtowanie instrumentów ochrony demokracji w Polsce na przykładzie zakazu zgromadzeń. Perspektywa ideowa

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-369
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Moroska-Bonkiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Persuasive Strategies ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
Threat To Life

There is no single, universal model for the protection of democracy that sets limits on freedom and tolerance in liberal democracies. In response to political extremism, states apply various measures — from highly repressive ones, such as restrictions on freedom of speech or association, to more liberal ones based on persuasive strategies. Which instruments are adopted and implemented depends on the decisions of public actors. This article deals with the ban on assembly, which is a repressive instrument of democracy protection. Basing on the analysis of selected assembly bans cases, the aim is first to determine which model of democracy protection is closer to the solutions adopted in Poland — militant or procedural democracy, and second to indicate why such solutions were adopted. More precisely, by means of an ideational perspective, the aim is to explain the different positions taken by public actors in the process of implementing the assembly ban. The article uses the method of qualitative content analysis of legal acts and decisions made by public authorities regarding holding assemblies. By means of a purposeful case selection, the analysis was carried out on the assembly bans against extreme right-wing groups in Warsaw and Wrocław. The research has shown that the legal norms adopted in Poland allow the application of assembly bans in accordance with the concept of militant democracy. However, the implementation shows a different approach of public actors in this matter. Municipalities are closer to the model of a militant democracy, as they allow a preventive ban on assembly as an instrument of public order protection in relation to freedom of speech infringements. In doing so, they do not maintain neutrality towards the views public discourse participants. The courts, on the other hand, exclude the subject of assemblies as a basis for their preventive restriction, the premises of the ban being violence or a direct threat to life, health and property. Their position is thus closer to the procedural model of protecting democracy. The adopted ideational perspective points to possible reasons for the different positions of public actors. Their attitude to values which are crucial for the protection of democracy shows differences. This applies, among others, to the different weight ascribed to particular democratic values, the different perception of threats to the society and the democratic state, and the divergence in defining the thresholds of freedom and tolerance. ∗ Artykuł powstał w wyniku realizacji projektu badawczego UMO-2014/15/D/HS5/03272 finansowanego ze środków Narodowego Centrum Nauki. Wyrazy podziękowania kieruję do recenzentów za bardzo wnikliwe i inspirujące komentarze.

scholarly journals Rethinking Populism: Peak democracy, liquid identity and the performance of sovereignty

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingolfur Blühdorn ◽  
Felix Butzlaff
Keyword(s):  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Modernization Theory ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Considerable Uncertainty ◽  
Adequate Understanding ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
Triangular Relationship ◽  
Radical Shift

Despite the burgeoning literature on right-wing populism, there is still considerable uncertainty about its causes, its impact on liberal democracies and about promising counter-strategies. Inspired by recent suggestions that (1) the emancipatory left has made a significant contribution to the proliferation of the populist right; and (2) populist movements, rather than challenging the established socio-political order, in fact stabilize and further entrench its logic, this article argues that an adequate understanding of the populist phenomenon necessitates a radical shift of perspective: beyond the democratic and emancipatory norms, which still govern most of the relevant literature. Approaching its subject matter via democratic theory and modernization theory, it undertakes a reassessment of the triangular relationship between modernity, democracy and populism. It finds that the latter is not helpfully conceptualized as anti-modernist or anti-democratic but should, instead, be regarded as a predictable feature of the form of politics distinctive of today’s third modernity.

The Radical Right in Israel

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arie Perliger ◽  
Ami Pedahzur
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
The State ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Radical Right Parties ◽  
Right Wing Populism

In a landmark article, Sammy Smooha, a prominent scholar of Israel’s regime, argued that as an ethnic democracy, Israel was unlikely to witness the emergence of “European-style” radical right-wing populism. The gist of the argument was that in ethnic democracies the state already occupies the ideological spaces that radical right-wing parties fill in liberal democracies, leaving such ideologies no room to evolve. In contrast to Smooha, this chapter considers ethnic democracies as fertile grounds for the growth of radical right politics. It maintains that such regimes facilitate the entrenchment of radical-right sentiments within significant parts of the population and political system, and consequently further facilitate the radicalization of radical-right parties that seek to distinguish themselves from other political actors. The chapter tests this argument via an analysis of the various ideological pillars of the Israeli radical right.

scholarly journals Does Media Coverage Drive Public Support for UKIP or Does Public Support for UKIP Drive Media Coverage?

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 893-910 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Murphy ◽  
Daniel Devine
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Time Series Data ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Party Support ◽  
The Uk

AbstractPrevious research suggests media attention may increase support for populist right-wing parties, but extant evidence is mostly limited to proportional representation systems in which such an effect would be most likely. At the same time, in the United Kingdom’s first-past-the-post system, an ongoing political and regulatory debate revolves around whether the media give disproportionate coverage to the populist right-wing UK Independence Party (UKIP). This study uses a mixed-methods research design to investigate the causal dynamics of UKIP support and media coverage as an especially valuable case. Vector autoregression, using monthly, aggregate time-series data from January 2004 to April 2017, provides new evidence consistent with a model in which media coverage drives party support, but not vice versa. The article identifies key periods in which stagnating or declining support for UKIP is followed by increases in media coverage and subsequent increases in public support. The findings show that media coverage may drive public support for right-wing populist parties in a substantively non-trivial fashion that is irreducible to previous levels of public support, even in a national institutional environment least supportive of such an effect. The findings have implications for political debates in the UK and potentially other liberal democracies.

Stepping in the Shoes of Leaders of Populist Right-Wing Parties

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jolanda Jetten ◽  
Rachel Ryan ◽  
Frank Mols
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Growth Condition ◽  
Baseline Condition ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Economic Context

Abstract. What narrative is deemed most compelling to justify anti-immigrant sentiments when a country’s economy is not a cause for concern? We predicted that flourishing economies constrain the viability of realistic threat arguments. We found support for this prediction in an experiment in which participants were asked to take on the role of speechwriter for a leader with an anti-immigrant message (N = 75). As predicted, a greater percentage of realistic threat arguments and fewer symbolic threat arguments were generated in a condition in which the economy was expected to decline than when it was expected to grow or a baseline condition. Perhaps more interesting, in the economic growth condition, the percentage realistic entitlements and symbolic threat arguments generated were higher than when the economy was declining. We conclude that threat narratives to provide a legitimizing discourse for anti-immigrant sentiments are tailored to the economic context.

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