That is the title of the thesis* with which the Italian Francesco Morella received a PHD at Tilburg University in the Netherlands November this year.
The answer to that question is relevant for who wants to understand what is going on in Europe, where right wing antidemocratic parties are gaining seats in European democracies. At present around a third of the votes in Europe are for extremist parties (right or left wing) and the right wing is growing fastest.
A recent example were yesterday’s national parliamentary elections in the Netherlands where an Islamophobic, anti-European union, climate-skeptic, anti-immigrant, pro Russian, extremist party deceivingly named the Party for Freedom (PVV: Partij Voor de Vrijheid) “won” the elections with around 25 % of the votes. Around 35 seats in the 150 seat parliament. The PVV is basically a one-man enterprise of a prior “Neo-liberal party member” who went solo, Mr. Geert Wilders. His PVV is a populist party (blaming immigrants, specifically Muslims for “everything”. Relevant: 25% of the votes won him 25 % of the parliament seats, he needs 75 +1 to be able to form a majority government. No need to panic yet, He’ll need the cooperation of other “democratic” parties and Mr Wilders is so unpopular with his colleagues that it remains to be seen if he can form even a minority government.
*For who is interested to read the thesis it is publicly accessible here (including a summary)
https://pure.uvt.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/82276288/Marolla_Why_03-11-2023.pdf
Understanding what is happening in Europe can also be relevant for understanding the USA.
Francesco Morella ‘s study might be applicable to the American situation especially his conclusion seems applicable. In the USA also a minority of the population supports extremist populist policies, trending toward fascism, and wannabe populist dictators try to terrorize democrats into submission. In many aspects similar to what is happening in Europe.
What did the study find:
The conclusion from Francesco Morella’s study covering the last 20 years of European elections is that populist parties are being supported by people who feel marginalized even if they are relatively well of. People’s perception is that they do not feel valued as members of civil society, they feel marginalized. That is found in Norway, Denmark, Sweden & the Netherlands, rich Northern European countries open to and participating in economic globalization. The more people perceive themselves as marginalized, the more they support populist parties. Not caused by joblessness or poverty, where feeling excluded seems fitting, but because they feel excluded from society while having work and income. This conclusion is supported by the findings of another recent thesis (From Dutch sociologist Kjeld Noordzij) titled “revolt of the deplored” (Hilary was right ;) finding that perceived cultural distance is defining whether people feel represented through politicians or do not. Practically educated workers feel no longer represented by theoretically educated politicians/parliamentarians. Leading to serious distrust of politicians, if you apply that finding to the USA where almost all house and senate representatives are millionaires, it is not weird to anticipate a similar perception of marginalization of practical educated people and a similar shift toward populist politicians.
People who used to feel represented through social liberal parties in Europe (somewhat equivalent with the present “US Democratic party”), do not recognize themselves anymore in the values those parties express. They feel neglected. Joe Biden’s support of the strike of the United Automobile Workers (UAW) seems a good example of how he is trying to keep those voters closer to the democratic party.
Another reality is that societies have changed, there is no longer a single dominant cultural group, there are several and all of them want to be heard and participate in the political discourse. If that reality is misunderstood, or denied. Or manipulated by populists who suggest that there is only “one cultural dominant group “ and deny others the right to participate in the diverse cultural representation of society as a whole (No more immigrants!). And act frustrated about that fact and suggest that there is only “one “ people and following “One Leader “ is the way forward that can seem an attractive proposition.
In some European countries these problems are being tackled through educating also practically schooled people during high-school years, about how a democracy works for all. Something that American populists seem to try to prevent at all cost.
Concluding: Healthy democracies need the active participation of all members of society , otherwise they are vulnerable to slide toward populism and authoritarian rule.
This article is an adaptation of an Article from the 24 November 2023 in a Dutch newspaper “De Volkskrant” (main stream slightly left of the middle daily newspaper) by journalist Margriet Oostveen.