Populism has developed into a veritable challenge for Western Europe’s established liberal democracies.
While populism was a marginal political force in post-war Europe, it has now entered the political mainstream with decisive implications for the performance of liberal, representative democracies. Across the continent, we have growing evidence of populist parties being a major force in dismantling fundamental rights as well as checks and balances on which liberal democracy depends.
The success of populist, anti-establishment parties in electoral politics has dramatically transformed not only the dynamics of competitive party politics but also what it means to participate in political life, individually and collectively.
Over the course of five years, the research project Populism and its Effects on Liberal Democracy: Minority Rights and Freedom of Speech funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, explores questions of (i) how right-wing populist parties claim to represent the ‘voice of the people’ and express ‘popular sovereignty,’ and (ii) how right-wing populism, in cases where parties form part of government, affects minority rights.
In addition the project “Governing Irregular Migration and Refugees – Towards Pragmatic Approaches and Effective Policies in a Transatlantic Perspective” funded in 2024 by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Canada (KAS) focuses in collaboration with the Borders in Globalization and the Europe Canada Network projects housed at UVic’s Centre for Global Studies, on how issues related to (irregular) migration and refugees can be addressed in local, regional, national, and transnational communities organized around pragmatic, policy-oriented approaches. In particular, what can we learn from the capacity of political communities at various levels of governance to tackle contested issues related to migration and refugees through democratically based process of deliberation and collaboration around key societal and public policy challenges.
Over the past years, the project has created synergies with the project “Europe-Canada Dialogue on Democracy: Democratic Deficit and the rise of populism”, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, the Centre for Global Studies, Faculty of Law and the Cedar Trees Institute at the University of Victoria.
