Populismo nos partidos políticos portugueses – Os programas eleitorais de 2019

Portugal has been systematically described as an exception to the wave of (right-wing) populism growth in Europe. This article aims to re-examine this claim considering the context of the Portuguese 2019 legislative elections. Drawing on content analysis of party manifestos, we seek to identify, measure, and characterize the presence of populist dimensions in parties’ proposals. Moreover, the article explores the interactions between populist dimensions and other party policies. Our findings suggest that parties’ electoral platforms are highly impervious to the salience of populism, even when considering a radical right-wing populist party that won a seat in Parliament. A positive correlation between the salience of populism and the degree of ideological radicalism has been identified.

Forty years of populism in the European Parliament

In May 2019, the elections for the European Parliament (EP) saw populist parties obtain almost a third of the available seats, with populist radical right parties making the biggest gains compared to the 2014 elections. Despite the results were less resounding than some predictions anticipated, a considerable amount of Members of the EP represent a populist party. This article first presents the performance of populist parties in forty years of EP elections, from their first occurrence in 1979 until 2019, and then focuses on populist radical right parties. The analysis suggests that (i) the number of seats occupied by populist parties in the EP continues to grow over time; (ii) right-wing populist parties no longer struggle to form political groups within the EP; (iii) radical right populist parties have become the most common type of populist party within the EP.

Le droit public face aux populismes en Europe: les cas de la Pologne et de la Hongrie

Populism is by no means a legal term, and its conceptual matrix is unclear. Nevertheless, it remains a challenge for Public law, as populist trends challenge the notion of the rule of law and the formal mechanisms for the protection of fundamental rights. The European context illustrates this challenge. In this context, this contribution addresses three points: first, in general terms, the concept of populism is considered in its potential contacts with Public law issues; second, the cases of Poland and Hungary over the last decade are developed, highlighting their contexts and the way in which political and legal institutions, and more specifically constitutional courts, have been able to respond to populist trends. Finally, a concluding point discusses the lessons that can be drawn from these European cases, not only with regard to Poland and Hungary, but more broadly at the European and international levels. The article permits to identify the shortcomings of the instruments for the protection of fundamental rights, which are also the shortcomings of a still incomplete European Public law.

“Morrer por dentro”? Os desafios do populismo e as eleições europeias de 2019

The results of the 2019 European Parliament (EP) elections cast an unprecedented challenge for the European Union (EU). Growing popularity of right-wing and left-wing, populist and radical political parties and the rising number of members of the parliament materialise the challenge. The article explores the seismic effects of the reconfiguration of the political landscape for European integration. The rising number of populist and radical political parties’ members of the parliament might weaken the political centre of gravity in the EP. Since the EP plays an important role on the legislative process of the EU, populist and radical parties’ Euroscepticism (if not their standpoint against the EU) might pervade the EP and threaten the EU with the prospect of setback, or at least stagnation.

Mecanismos digitales para la participación en partidos políticos de la CPLP

This research analyzes and compares the implementation of digital political participation devices among the political parties of the four largest states of the CPLP in terms of population. Based on the influence and incentives of the context of each state, we expect greater adoption of participation tools among the political parties of those states most digitized and developed at the socioeconomic level. For the verification of the starting hypothesis, the information regarding the categories and study variables related to the participation was collected through the websites of the selected political parties through a systematic observation. Statistical analysis of the data obtained did not allow us to confirm the relationship between the level of general digitization, socioeconomic development, and the degree of digitization of political parties. Based on the results obtained, we propose a series of alternative explanations that may be tested in future work.

Luta de “classes” e disputa “nacional” nos Açores de 1580? A família de Jácome Trigo perante a resistência terceirense e a conquista espanhola

In this study, we explore two documents of the Public Library and Regional Archive Luís da Silva Ribeiro, notably, one pension of 1583 and one petition, with a minute of witnesses, of 1584. Both address the privileged Jácome Trigo and fellows, confessed partisans of Philip II, opponents of the rebellion of Terceira in support of D. António. Hunted by the rebellious people and by the sectarian justice of Prior do Crato, the group endures the confiscation of assets, until condemned to death penalty, commuted to exile in England in 1582. Then, as proof of loyalty to the king of Spain, after a dangerous voyage, that costs the life of Jácome Trigo, the band lands in Lisbon, still in time to join the army of the marquis of Santa Cruz, which conquers Terceira in 1583. Besides, with less importance, we recall events, omitting a revision, related with the Iberic Union, for instance, the condescension of the Kingdom and the resistance of Terceira, as well as the noticeable alignment of the social strata, and still the motivations of all trends, of nationalism, to the anti-castilianism or simply the yearning of Sebastianism.

Non si può fermare il vento con le mani – Populismo e Moralismo nella crisi del pensiero europeo

One of the distinctive features of a democratic society is the pervasive and endless public debate that regularly antagonize groups and individuals, clashing different interests and ideologies. In this competitive environment, the delegitimization of a political enemy is the more natural – and yet democratically unhealthy – way to win the confrontation between diverse ideas. Historically, one of the predilected strategies to discredit a political adversary has always been blaming its morality, thereby eroding the very root on which any consensus rests. The moral blaming is declined differently, depending on the social and cultural context of the time and therefore the dominating values. In a democratic debate, these moral allegations often relate to duplicity or spreading of misinformation, the so-called demagogy. Today, the same campaign is rolled out against some partiers accused to be “populists” for their appeal to the most illogic and instinctive popular sentiment. The definition of “populism” is though still uncertain and subject to academic debate. This article aims at presenting different definition and interpretation of this political phenomenon to better frame it in the nowadays Western politics. The concept of populism is considered in its different shapes, questioning on the one hand the consistency of the existing definition and on the other its relationship with the democratic tenet. At the end of this analysis, the focus is shifted to the European Union and the reason as to why all the populist parties are seemingly Eurosceptic. The reason provided challenges the ideas of European unity itself, underlying the contrasting directions that the experiment of integration conveys, and question the multi-layered architecture of the contemporary democracy.

Conferência sobre o Futuro da Europa: uma resposta política à ameaça populista à integração europeia?

The Conference on the Future of Europe was launched in March, 2021 by the European institutions, with the aim of creating a platform for bottom up citizen participation in the definition of policy options for the “future of Europe”. This article analyses the institutional and party discourses on the Conference, in the framework of the reaction of those institutions and of the pro-integration parties to the mounting populist “threat” to European integration, notably as expressed in the outcome of the 2019 European Parliament elections. The author aims to establish whether in doing so the European Union is innovating, by overcoming conventional representative democracy participation and thus entering other complementary models. The article further discusses whether this new method bridges the gap with the citizens, whom populisms have tried to mobilize.