Key decisions in the EU are made by unelected, and therefore not accountable to citizens, government bodies. Moreover, such decisions are often made with the participation of big business, and ordinary Europeans see this as the main threat to democracy, Benjamin De Klin, associate professor of the Department of Communication Studies at Brussels University, told Lente.ru.
According to him, such sentiments are increasingly spreading among Europeans thanks to the right-wing populists. De Klin explained the growing popularity of these politicians in Europe not only by their desire to fight the influx of migrants and liberal values. “The right-wingers were able to quite convincingly prove to their supporters that they represent“ ordinary Europeans ”. As a result, any attempts to criticize them become “anti-national”, ”the researcher noted.
According to the scientist, business has recently begun to support the right-wing populists. Some entrepreneurs (primarily industrialists) are dissatisfied with the fact that their products cannot compete with cheaper Chinese or Indian goods. This is explained by the fact that representatives of the upper strata of society often lead the right-wing populist parties that advocate protectionist measures.
“It is wrong to think that the populist electorate is only people from the social bottom or those who compete with migrants for work,” De Klin said.
The problems of civil society, the growth of protest sentiments in Western countries and their causes have become one of the central themes of the Lenta.ru project entitled “Problems of the First World”. The materials are united by the theme of the crisis of liberal values in the Western world and the split in society. They talk about how the ideas of freedom and universal equality are turned into an instrument of oppression, and the struggle for the rights of some groups of people turns into the powerlessness of others.
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