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From Militant Democracy to Normal Politics? How European Democracies Respond to Populist Parties

Part of: Militant Democracy, Populism, Illiberalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2022

Angela K. Bourne
Angela K. Bourne*
Affiliation:
Professor (with Special Responsibilities), Roskilde University, Department of Social Science and Business, Denmark.
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Abstract

Problems with militant democracy and democratic defence approaches – a new typology of initiatives opposing populist parties: democratic defence as ‘normal politics’ – populist opponents: public authorities, parties and civil society – tolerant and intolerant modes of engagement with populists – intolerant initiatives opposing populist parties – rights restrictions by public authorities – ostracism by political parties – coercive confrontation by civil society actors – tolerant initiatives opposing populist parties – ‘ordinary’ legal controls and pedagogy by public authorities – forbearance by political parties – adversarialism by civil society actors

Type
Articles
Information
European Constitutional Law Review , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , September 2022 , pp. 488 - 510
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the University of Amsterdam

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Footnotes

The research was funded by the Carlsberg Foundation ‘Challenges for Europe Programme’ project on Populism and Democratic Defence In Europe (CF20-008). I would like to thank my colleagues Aleksandra Moroska-Bonkiewicz, Bénédicte Laumond, Francesco Campo, Mathias Holst Nicolaisen, Franciszek Tyszka, Tore Vincents Olsen, Juha Tuovinen, Anthoula Malkopoulou and Katarzyna Domagała for many insights when developing the typology, and participants in the May 2021 ECPR joint sessions workshop on Militant Democracy: New Challengers and Challenges.

References

1 E. Laclau, On Populist Reason (Verso 2005); C. Mudde, ‘The Populist Zeitgeist’, 39 Government and Opposition (2004); K. Weyland, ‘Populism: A Political-strategic Approach’, in P. Taggart et al. (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Populism (Oxford University Press 2017); B. Moffit, The Global Rise of Populism: Performance, Political Style and Representation (Stanford University Press 2016).

2 C. Mudde and C. Rovira Kaltwasser (eds.), Populism in Europe and the Americas: Threat or Corrective for Democracy? (Cambridge University Press 2012); J.W. Müller, What Is Populism? (University of Pennsylvania Press 2016); C. Mouffe, For a Left Populism (La Vergne 2018); Y. Stavrakakis, ‘The Return of “the People”: Populism and Anti-Populism in the Shadow of the European Crisis’, 21 Constellations (2014).

3 G. Fox and G. Nolte, ‘Intolerant Democracies’, in G. Fox and B. Roth (eds.), Democratic Governance and International Law (Cambridge University Press 2000); P. Niesen, ‘Anti-extremism, Negative Republicanism, Civil Society: Three Paradigms for Banning Political Parties’, 3(7) German Law Journal (2002) E1; A. Bourne, ‘Democratisation and the Proscription of Political Parties’, 19(6) Democratization (2012) p. 1065; A. Pedahzur, ‘The Defending Democracy and the Extreme Right: A Comparative Analysis’, in R. Eatwell and C. Mudde (eds.), Western Democracies and the New Extreme Right Challenge (Routledge 2004); G. Capoccia, Defending Democracy: Reactions to Extremism in Interwar Europe (John Hopkins University Press 2005); W. Downs, Political Extremism in Democracies: Combatting Intolerance (Palgrave Macmillan 2012); S. Rummens and K. Abts, ‘Defending Democracy: The Concentric Containment of Political Extremism’, 58(10) Political Studies (2010) p. 649; A. Malkopoulou and L. Norman, ‘Three Models of Democratic Self-Defence: Militant Democracy and Its Alternatives’, 66(2) Political Studies (2018) p. 442; D. Albertazzi et al., ‘The Strategies of Party Competition: A Typology’, in D. Albertazzi and D. Vampa (eds.), Populism and New Patterns of Political Competition in Western Europe (Routledge 2021) p. 50.

4 Taggart and Rovira only address responses to populist parties in government: C. Rovira Kaltwasser and P. Taggart, ‘Dealing with Populists Parties in Government: A Framework for Analysis’ 23(2) Democratization (2016) p. 1.

5 K. Loewenstein, ‘Militant Democracy and Fundamental Rights II’, 31(4) The American Political Science Journal (1937) p. 638.

6 J.W. Müller, ‘Militant Democracy’, in M. Rosenfeld and A. Sajó (eds.), The Oxford Handboook of Comparative Constitutional Law (Oxford University Press 2012) p. 1253; C. Invernizzi and I. Zuckerman, ‘What’s Wrong with Militant Democracy?’, 65 Political Studies (2015) p. 183; S. Tyulkina, Militant Democracy: Undemocratic Political Parties and Beyond (Routledge 2015) p. 14; A. Malkopoulou, ‘Introduction. Militant Democracy’, in A. Malkopoulou and A. Kirshner (eds.), Militant Democracy and Its Critics (Edinburgh University Press 2019).

7 J.W. Müller, ‘Protecting Popular Self-Government from the People? New Normative Perspectives on Militant Democracy’, 19 Annual Review of Political Science (2016) p. 250.

8 Müller, supra n. 6, p. 1267-68.

9 Ibid.

10 Ibid.

11 Mouffe, supra n. 2; Y. Stavrakakis, ‘Paradoxes of Polarization: Democracy’s Inherent Division and the (Anti-) Populist Challenge’, 62(1) American Behavioral Scientist (2018).

12 Mudde and Rovira Kaltwasser, supra n. 2; T.S. Pappas, Populism and Liberal Democracy: A Comparative and Theoretical Analysis (Oxford University Press 2019).

13 C. Rovira Kaltwasser, ‘Militant Democracy Versus Populism’, in Malkopoulou and Kirshner, supra n. 6, p. 73.

14 G. Capoccia, ‘Defending Democracy: Strategies of Reaction to Political Extremism in Inter-war Europe’, 39 European Journal of Political Research (2001); Capoccia, supra n. 3; Pedahzur, supra n. 3; Rummens and Abts, supra n. 3; Malkopoulou and Norman, supra n. 3; B.M. Meguid, ‘Competition Between Unequals: The Role of Mainstream Party Strategy in Niche Party Success’, 99 American Political Science Review (2005) p. 347; Albertazzi et al., supra n. 3; Fox and Nolte, supra n. 3.

15 For a partial exception see Rovira Kaltwasser and Taggart, supra n. 4.

16 Also funded by the Carlsberg Foundation ‘Challenges for Europe Programme’ project on Populism and Democratic Defence In Europe (CF20-008).

17 A. Ware, Political Parties and Party Systems (Oxford University Press 1995).

18 C. McKinnon, Toleration: A Critical Introduction (Routledge 2006) p. 4.

19 E.g. Fox and Nolte supra n. 3; Capoccia supra n. 3; Downs, supra n. 3.

20 E.g. Müller, supra n. 6; Tyulkina, supra n. 6; Malkopoulou and Norman, supra n. 6.

21 M. Blauberger and R. D Kelemen, ‘Can Courts Rescue National Democracy? Judicial Safeguards against Democratic Backsliding in the EU’, 24 Journal of European Public Policy (2017) p. 332.

22 J. van Spanje, Controlling the Electoral Marketplace. How Established Parties Ward Off Competition (Springer International Publishers 2018) p. 38.

23 J. van Spanje and W. van Der Brug, ‘The Party as Pariah: The Exclusion of Anti-Immigration Parties and its Effect on their Ideological Positions’, 30 West European Politics (2007) p. 1022; Rummens and Abts, supra n. 3, p. 649.

24 J. Locke, A Letter Concerning Toleration; see also A. Tuckness, ‘Rethinking the Intolerant Locke’, 46(2) American Journal of Political Science (2002) p. 288.

25 K. Popper, The Open Society (Routledge 1966) p. 265.

26 J. Rawls, A Theory of Justice. (Oxford University Press 1971) p. 219; see also J. Quong, ‘The Rights of Unreasonable Citizens’, 13 The Journal of Political Philosophy (2004) p. 314.

27 Tyulkina, supra n. 6.

28 Ibid., p. 46-47.

29 Ibid., p. 46.

30 R. Dahl, On Democracy (Yale University Press 2000) p. 37.

31 Downs, supra n. 3; D. Art, ‘Reacting to the Radical Right: Lessons from Germany and Austria’, 13(3) Party Politics (2007) p. 331; J. Van Spanje, supra n. 22.

32 Dahl, supra n. 30, p. 85; Rummens and Abts, supra n. 3, p. 654.

33 W. Müller and K. Strøm, Policy Office or Votes? (Cambridge University Press 1999).

34 C. Tilly, The Politics of Collective Violence (Cambridge University Press 2003) p. 3.

35 Tilly, supra n. 34, p. 14-15.

36 J. Keane, Violence and Democracy (Cambridge University Press 2004) p. 3, 9.

37 Keane, supra n. 36, p. 9.

38 Ibid., p. 44, 52.

39 C. Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox (Verso 2000).

40 Niesen, supra n. 3, p. 548; E. Bleich, ‘The Rise of Hate Speech and Hate Crime Laws in Liberal Democracies’, 37(6) Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (2011) p. 917.

41 R. Wistrich, Holocaust Denial: The Politics of Perfidy (De Bruyter 2012); see P. Behrens et al., Holocaust and Genocide Denial: A Contextual Perspective (Routledge 2019).

42 Wistrich, supra n. 41, p. 25; Bleich, supra n. 40.

43 Capoccia, supra n. 3, p. 56; Tyulkina, supra n. 6.

44 S. van Heerden and W. van der Brug, ‘Demonisation and Electoral Support for Populist Right Parties’, 47 Electoral Studies (2017) p. 37.

45 N. Rosenblum, On the Side of the Angels: An appreciation of Parties and Partisanship (Princeton University Press 2008).

46 Downs, supra n. 3, p. 31.

47 Dahl, supra n. 30, p. 85; A. Downs, An Economic Theory of Democracy (Harper & Row 1957); Rummens and Abts, supra n. 3, p. 654.

48 The three of these (legislative collaboration, executive collaboration, electoral collaboration) are inspired by van Spanje, supra n. 22, p. 40.

49 van Spanje, supra n. 22, p. 24; Meguid, supra n. 14; Albertazzi et al., supra n. 3.

50 Meguid, supra n. 14; Albertazzi et al., supra n. 3.

51 S. Tarrow, Power in Movement: Social Movements and Contentious Politics (Cambridge University Press 2011) p. 98.

52 Keane, supra n. 36; see also Mouffe, supra n. 39; S. Rummens, ‘Resolving the Paradox of Tolerance’, in Malkopoulou and Kirshner, supra n. 6.

53 Mouffe, supra n. 39, p. 192.

54 Tarrow, supra n. 51, p. 98; S. Tarrow and C. Tilly, Contentious Politics (Oxford University Press 2006).

55 V. Taylor and N. Van Dyke, ‘“Get up, Stand up”: Tactical Repertoires of Social Movements’, in D.A. Snow et al. (eds.), The Blackwell Companion of Social Movements (Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2007) p. 266-267.

56 Taylor and Van Dyke, supra n. 76, p. 267.

57 Tarrow, supra n. 51, p. 99.

58 Ibid., p. 99.