The Resurgence of Populism in Europe

Abstract

Since 2016 world politics has been changing to one vested with nativism, protectionism and cultural nostalgia, a world of “post-trust” in which demagogy and populism are used as tools to arouse popular trust and legitimacy. The article outlines three dilemmas the EU faces in regard to populism resurgence and lists several factors for the growth in electorate support for populist political parties, such as migration, inequality, terrorism, crisis of political representation. The author also identifies different factors triggering the rise of populist parties in Western and Eastern countries and has classified the populist appeals in three categories: scapegoating, capitalizing resentments and constructing authority, all colored with new approaches of negation, using Islamophobia and Euroscepticism.