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European Centre @ POLIS

Department of Politics and International Studies
 

On the 6th of January Chris Bickerton published together with Carlo Invernizzi-Accetti of Science Po Paris an article in Financial Times arguing that European democracy cannot be clubby world of familiar faces.

The two authors argue that 'Formalising the exclusion of far-right parties, as Sweden has done, or informally excluding anti-establishment parties, as occurs elsewhere, is grist to the populist mill'. They also warn that such action against extremist parties 'confirms their status as outsiders and reinforces the image of the political establishment as a self-serving caste'. They point to the successful examples of France’s National Front, the UK Independence Party and Spain’s Podemos to show that such parties thrive on stigmatisation. The authors also claim that blocking the access of insurgent parties to power undermines democracy and the idea of political opposition.

For the full article please visit the website of Financial Times:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/f0d2b5ea-95bb-11e4-a390-00144feabdc0,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2Ff0d2b5ea-95bb-11e4-a390-00144feabdc0.html%3Fsiteedition%3Duk&siteedition=uk&_i_referer=#axzz3O3nJE8Va.