Democracy Erodes from the Top Leaders, Citizens, and the Challenges of Populism in Europe - Princeton Studies in Political Behavior

Hardback (04 Apr 2023)

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Publisher's Synopsis

Why leaders, not citizens, are the driving force in Europe's crisis of democracy

An apparent explosion of support for right-wing populist parties has triggered widespread fears that liberal democracy is facing its worst crisis since the 1930s. Democracy Erodes from the Top reveals that the real crisis stems not from an increasingly populist public but from political leaders who exploit or mismanage the chronic vulnerabilities of democracy.

In this provocative book, Larry Bartels dismantles the pervasive myth of a populist wave in contemporary European public opinion. While there has always been a substantial reservoir of populist sentiment, Europeans are no less trusting of their politicians and parliaments than they were two decades ago, no less enthusiastic about European integration, and no less satisfied with the workings of democracy. Anti-immigrant sentiment has waned. Electoral support for right-wing populist parties has increased only modestly, reflecting the idiosyncratic successes of populist entrepreneurs, the failures of mainstream parties, and media hype. Europe's most sobering examples of democratic backsliding-in Hungary and Poland-occurred not because voters wanted authoritarianism but because conventional conservative parties, once elected, seized opportunities to entrench themselves in power.

By demonstrating the inadequacy of conventional bottom-up interpretations of Europe's political crisis, Democracy Erodes from the Top turns our understanding of democratic politics upside down.

Book information

ISBN: 9780691244501
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Pub date:
DEWEY: 320.5662094
DEWEY edition: 23
Language: English
Number of pages: 270
Weight: 622g
Height: 165mm
Width: 243mm
Spine width: 26mm