Extremism and Democracy

Rationale It was just over a decade ago that commentators worldwide boasted the final triumph of liberal democracy. Filled with euphoria after the fall of Soviet communism, Fukuyama and others declared the ‘end of history’. That this was premature with respect to the situation in many non-Western countries was directly noticed by a (growing) stream of critics. However, increasingly it seems that even (established) liberal democracies are far from undisputed internally and externally. Jean-Marie Le Pen’s stand-off in the second round of the French presidential election, the Communist’s return to power in Moldova, the violence from and against anti-globalisation movements in Genua, the anarchic riots in the streets of Buenos Aires, the terrible attack on the WTC Twin Towers in New York… it looks like liberal democracies are challenged from all sides these days. This section on ‘extremism and democracy’ hopes to provide some answers to the how and why of this all. Who are these challengers of (liberal) democracy? Is there one concerted attack, or are all challengers more different than similar? Why are they challenging (liberal) democracy? How are (liberal) democracies defending themselves? These are some of the questions to be addressed in the various papers and panels. The key question that should guide and connect the various panels is: What are the relationships between ‘extremism’ and ‘democracy’? Consequently, though the main focus of papers can be on the extremist actors themselves, they should be studied in relation to their democratic environment, not in isolation. Topics The section hopes to attract original paper and panel proposals on a broad variety of ‘extremist’ forces; i.e. right and left, secular and religious, violent and non-violent, European and Asian. Given the nature of the ECPR, the papers should be of relevance to political science, and preferably of a comparative nature (i.e. either involving a comparision of two or more cases, or being of comparative use). Of particular interest are political philosophical and conceptually innovative papers. The aim is to organise 8-10 panels with one chair, three-four paper givers, and one discussant each. So far, four panels have been accepted. As only one is already full, papers for the following panels can still be submitted to the respective chairs: 1. The Extreme Left in Eastern Europe (Luke March, Edinburgh) 2. Populism and the Media (Stefaan Walgrave, Antwerp) 3. The New Populists of Europe (Reinhold Gärtner, Innsbruck) In addition, I am looking for further panel and paper proposals, most notably (though not exclusively) on the following topics: - The Extreme Right in Government - Religious Fundamentalisms Compared - Anti-Globalisation Movements - Comparing Political Extremism and Religious Fundamentalism Paper and panel proposals should be submitted by e-mail to cas.mudde@ua.ac.be. Paper proposals should include a short abstract of no more than 20-30 lines!