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Zsolt Enyedi on What Liberals Should Learn From Populists

“Liberals need to remind people of the fundamental compatibility between liberalism and patriotism,” Zsolt Enyedi, Lead Researcher of our De-/Re-Democratization workgroup writes in his op-ed published by Euronews.

Recent elections suggest that “the wave of populism may have peaked in Europe,” he writes, adding that “centrist parties, typically representing some version of liberalism, have managed to muddle through and retain public support.”

Still, according to Zsolt Enyedi, “the problems that caused Europe’s populist insurgency are still with us, with many of its aspects now transforming rather than falling away.” He argues that “in the post Second World War period, populists tended to be amateurs,” but it has changed and “a number of authoritarian parties have started to attract donors, campaign managers, lawyers, and government insiders to their cause,” which “changed the game.”

He also writes about political mistakes committed by liberals, disasters heralded by populists, discourse embraced by young generations, and how liberals could reach “the median citizen.”

Read the full article here

The article has also been republished in Bulgarian by Dnevnik, in Swedish by Dagens ETC and in Polish by Newsweek.

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