Post by Bozur on Dec 31, 2017 23:12:15 GMT -5
It's time to rescue Europe’s illiberal democracies
Fighting state nationalism with EU-level nationalism is not the solution to populism, writes European Parliament member Danuta Huebner.
By
Danuta Huebner
Published on
December 28, 2017 12:00 pm
After 1989, the West, buoyed by political theorist Francis Fukuyama’s seductive notion of “The End of History,” entered an era of self-satisfied complacency in which it seemed that liberal democracy and capitalism could be taken for granted.
Three decades later, “History” is back with a vengeance. A populist nationalist is now president of the United States. The United Kingdom is withdrawing from the European Union. And self-proclaimed illiberal democrats are in power in Hungary and Poland. It turns out that, at the “end” of history, the enemies of open, democratic societies never actually surrendered. They were just pushed into the shadows.
There are a number of sociological reasons why illiberalism is resurgent today. Across the West, once-universal public spheres have been weakened and divided, and once-public social concerns have been “privatized.” But the main reason for the West’s illiberal turn concerns emotions. For those who are unsettled by the widespread change of the past few decades, national identities have become increasingly appealing as a way to offset often-unpredictable globalization.
Populist rhetoric poses a direct challenge to the EU and its tradition of procedural and rules-based governance. Indeed, it strikes at the very core of the European project. There is no European counterpart to Trump’s promise to “Make America Great Again.” Given Europe’s 20th-century history, such parochial sloganeering has been all but banished from the continent’s politics. Indeed, it is not well suited to the European timber.
The European project is about integration, not isolation.
Yet the fact remains that Europeans are fighting for their very soul. To resist the populist backlash, we Europeans should be proclaiming the EU’s virtues more loudly, without descending to the populists’ level. Conjuring up some kind of EU-level nationalism to compete with state-level nationalism would be akin to taking medicine that is worse than the disease.
A better approach would focus on defending the rule of law against populist encroachments. The rule of law is the EU’s most valuable currency and a fundamental part of its DNA. It provides the foundation for the philosophy of multinational democracy that animates the EU’s institutions. While populists regard the rule of law as malleable or negotiable, Europe’s democrats understand that it is the essential bond holding our civilization together.
As Europe attempts to reverse the slide toward illiberalism, we must recognize that not all illiberal trajectories are the same. It seems counterproductive to put Hungary and Poland into one basket, and thereby drive them even further into an “alliance of the scorned” fueled more by convenience than real common interests. The European project is about integration, not isolation. We should be careful about punishing countries simply because they happen to be led by irresponsible leaders at any given moment.
In fact, European integration must be about people, not political elites. Regardless of their governments’ stance, the majority of people in Poland and Hungary want to remain in the EU and participate actively in its continent-wide community. The EU is an expression of their values, and a mechanism by which they can realize their dreams. That means EU leaders have a responsibility, but also an opportunity, to turn back the illiberal tide.
If we are to draw in the countries with illiberal regimes, we could foster the active support of civil society, while using precise and calibrated instruments to put pressure on the governments in question. Blunt instruments will only make matters worse. For example, cutting off EU structural funds for regional development or other forms of assistance would punish the Polish and Hungarian people instead of their leaders, pushing them further away from the EU, and into the arms of their illiberal governments.
The challenge facing the EU today is to figure out how to reengage with its backsliding member states without punishing voters for their leaders’ misdeeds. It will not be easy. But if the EU is to implement needed institutional reforms, we need all the member countries to be fully engaged in seeking common solutions that make Europe more competitive, equitable, and socially robust. For those of us who believe in Europe, good-faith engagement is the only acceptable option.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2017.
www.project-syndicate.org
global.handelsblatt.com/opinion/its-time-to-rescue-europes-illiberal-democracies-869139
Fighting state nationalism with EU-level nationalism is not the solution to populism, writes European Parliament member Danuta Huebner.
By
Danuta Huebner
Published on
December 28, 2017 12:00 pm
After 1989, the West, buoyed by political theorist Francis Fukuyama’s seductive notion of “The End of History,” entered an era of self-satisfied complacency in which it seemed that liberal democracy and capitalism could be taken for granted.
Three decades later, “History” is back with a vengeance. A populist nationalist is now president of the United States. The United Kingdom is withdrawing from the European Union. And self-proclaimed illiberal democrats are in power in Hungary and Poland. It turns out that, at the “end” of history, the enemies of open, democratic societies never actually surrendered. They were just pushed into the shadows.
There are a number of sociological reasons why illiberalism is resurgent today. Across the West, once-universal public spheres have been weakened and divided, and once-public social concerns have been “privatized.” But the main reason for the West’s illiberal turn concerns emotions. For those who are unsettled by the widespread change of the past few decades, national identities have become increasingly appealing as a way to offset often-unpredictable globalization.
Populist rhetoric poses a direct challenge to the EU and its tradition of procedural and rules-based governance. Indeed, it strikes at the very core of the European project. There is no European counterpart to Trump’s promise to “Make America Great Again.” Given Europe’s 20th-century history, such parochial sloganeering has been all but banished from the continent’s politics. Indeed, it is not well suited to the European timber.
The European project is about integration, not isolation.
Yet the fact remains that Europeans are fighting for their very soul. To resist the populist backlash, we Europeans should be proclaiming the EU’s virtues more loudly, without descending to the populists’ level. Conjuring up some kind of EU-level nationalism to compete with state-level nationalism would be akin to taking medicine that is worse than the disease.
A better approach would focus on defending the rule of law against populist encroachments. The rule of law is the EU’s most valuable currency and a fundamental part of its DNA. It provides the foundation for the philosophy of multinational democracy that animates the EU’s institutions. While populists regard the rule of law as malleable or negotiable, Europe’s democrats understand that it is the essential bond holding our civilization together.
As Europe attempts to reverse the slide toward illiberalism, we must recognize that not all illiberal trajectories are the same. It seems counterproductive to put Hungary and Poland into one basket, and thereby drive them even further into an “alliance of the scorned” fueled more by convenience than real common interests. The European project is about integration, not isolation. We should be careful about punishing countries simply because they happen to be led by irresponsible leaders at any given moment.
In fact, European integration must be about people, not political elites. Regardless of their governments’ stance, the majority of people in Poland and Hungary want to remain in the EU and participate actively in its continent-wide community. The EU is an expression of their values, and a mechanism by which they can realize their dreams. That means EU leaders have a responsibility, but also an opportunity, to turn back the illiberal tide.
If we are to draw in the countries with illiberal regimes, we could foster the active support of civil society, while using precise and calibrated instruments to put pressure on the governments in question. Blunt instruments will only make matters worse. For example, cutting off EU structural funds for regional development or other forms of assistance would punish the Polish and Hungarian people instead of their leaders, pushing them further away from the EU, and into the arms of their illiberal governments.
The challenge facing the EU today is to figure out how to reengage with its backsliding member states without punishing voters for their leaders’ misdeeds. It will not be easy. But if the EU is to implement needed institutional reforms, we need all the member countries to be fully engaged in seeking common solutions that make Europe more competitive, equitable, and socially robust. For those of us who believe in Europe, good-faith engagement is the only acceptable option.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2017.
www.project-syndicate.org
global.handelsblatt.com/opinion/its-time-to-rescue-europes-illiberal-democracies-869139
Comments:
Tom D. Porter
Could the Author of this journalistic disaster please name me three things the big bad boogey man... er uh.. populists have done or propagated that poses a danger to European democracies.
You know what, how about just ONE thing, ONE THING that populists have done that endanger European democracies.
This article is trash-
Could the Author of this journalistic disaster please name me three things the big bad boogey man... er uh.. populists have done or propagated that poses a danger to European democracies.
You know what, how about just ONE thing, ONE THING that populists have done that endanger European democracies.
This article is trash-
Ray Sealey
The author is spewing more EU nonsense! They, the self appointed ones have forced thousands of pieces of legislation on the EU community that makes no sense, are using bulling tactics on poor countries like Greece.
Undermine the security of all of Europe with an open border policy that has clearly failed. Creating chaos for all.
Bravo for Britain leaving, they get their identity back. Bravo to Poland and Hungry. Stand up to the clowns in Brussels.Illiberilsm? Is this a new made up word? Thank God Trump has stood up and says the plain truth . NATO should pay their own way! The US has held up the EU crippled military for far to long now. Yes to make America great again, Yes to make all countries great again. The EU experiment has failed. Soon they won't have a pocket to piss in ! Liberalism is dead, call it want you want. Nationalism is not a dirty word. It's the people proud of their countries and want to live the way they decide and not from the knife wielding vultures in the fat lazy city of Brussels.
The author is spewing more EU nonsense! They, the self appointed ones have forced thousands of pieces of legislation on the EU community that makes no sense, are using bulling tactics on poor countries like Greece.
Undermine the security of all of Europe with an open border policy that has clearly failed. Creating chaos for all.
Bravo for Britain leaving, they get their identity back. Bravo to Poland and Hungry. Stand up to the clowns in Brussels.Illiberilsm? Is this a new made up word? Thank God Trump has stood up and says the plain truth . NATO should pay their own way! The US has held up the EU crippled military for far to long now. Yes to make America great again, Yes to make all countries great again. The EU experiment has failed. Soon they won't have a pocket to piss in ! Liberalism is dead, call it want you want. Nationalism is not a dirty word. It's the people proud of their countries and want to live the way they decide and not from the knife wielding vultures in the fat lazy city of Brussels.
George Mather
I don't think your algorithms are working Facebook. I'm about as anti-EU as you can get. You've suggested this post to the wrong person.
It's garbage. Sneering, dogmatically inaccurate, arrogant rhetoric from a Europhile. I'm sure this person couldn't find a bad word to say about the EU.
People who don't want to remain in the EU are illiberal? We in Britain voted in favour of leaving (whatever you think of democracy - the EU supposedly thinks rather highly of it...) and the EU and even our own politicians are trying their hardest to keep us in. The Conservative leadership (along with the other parties) are actively trying to subvert democracy and keep us in. That is the very definition of illiberal. They - with the help of traitors, useful idiots in the population and the vile, illiberal, socialist Left - will probably manage to keep us in but this isn't the end of it. Bloody revolution if that's what it takes.
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable."
Love Europe. F the EU!
I don't think your algorithms are working Facebook. I'm about as anti-EU as you can get. You've suggested this post to the wrong person.
It's garbage. Sneering, dogmatically inaccurate, arrogant rhetoric from a Europhile. I'm sure this person couldn't find a bad word to say about the EU.
People who don't want to remain in the EU are illiberal? We in Britain voted in favour of leaving (whatever you think of democracy - the EU supposedly thinks rather highly of it...) and the EU and even our own politicians are trying their hardest to keep us in. The Conservative leadership (along with the other parties) are actively trying to subvert democracy and keep us in. That is the very definition of illiberal. They - with the help of traitors, useful idiots in the population and the vile, illiberal, socialist Left - will probably manage to keep us in but this isn't the end of it. Bloody revolution if that's what it takes.
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable."
Love Europe. F the EU!
Georgios Papadopoulos
What many fail to see in Europe is the technocratic state of the EU is unraveling. As unelected leaders of the commission & powerless leaders of the parliament are obsessed with a single twitter account. Gasprom has been quietly increasing its European market share for natural gas. At the expense of local energy sources. Everyone knows what happens when Mr Putin gets mad? He turns of the tap!!! Think about it
What many fail to see in Europe is the technocratic state of the EU is unraveling. As unelected leaders of the commission & powerless leaders of the parliament are obsessed with a single twitter account. Gasprom has been quietly increasing its European market share for natural gas. At the expense of local energy sources. Everyone knows what happens when Mr Putin gets mad? He turns of the tap!!! Think about it
Γεώργιος Δανιηλίδης
Populism is a fake term to condemn citizens fair and just demands used by ELITES and their personell.Solution is needed for oligarchic policies against citizens democratic and social rights
Ron Lewenberg
What is more illiberal than the European Union? It's subjects to Kingdom vote on joining it as a transnational government. Laws that people actually indirectly or directly vote on or countermanded by a foreign government in Belgium, and Notions of identity, sovereignty, and property rights are ignored by Judiciary and legislative body that presumes speak for the entirety of Europe with no recourse by its subjects
What is more illiberal than the European Union? It's subjects to Kingdom vote on joining it as a transnational government. Laws that people actually indirectly or directly vote on or countermanded by a foreign government in Belgium, and Notions of identity, sovereignty, and property rights are ignored by Judiciary and legislative body that presumes speak for the entirety of Europe with no recourse by its subjects
Zsuzsi Szőke
Nationalism and illiberal state terms should be handled separately. Illiberal state is the interest of a self-appointed clique who are blinded by their own imagined genius, ego and greediness. Nationalism is a far cry from this. And if u pledge nationalism as a virus lets just put scotland and catalans on the list. Or does it mean the french are not (too) proud of being french? What about millions who voted Le Pen or Afd? Besides the central/eastern european nationalism was/is well-fed by western european egoism, superiority and disdain that survived everything in history. Even the EU thought.
Nationalism and illiberal state terms should be handled separately. Illiberal state is the interest of a self-appointed clique who are blinded by their own imagined genius, ego and greediness. Nationalism is a far cry from this. And if u pledge nationalism as a virus lets just put scotland and catalans on the list. Or does it mean the french are not (too) proud of being french? What about millions who voted Le Pen or Afd? Besides the central/eastern european nationalism was/is well-fed by western european egoism, superiority and disdain that survived everything in history. Even the EU thought.