The Contradictory Democratic Beliefs of Populist Citizens

Professor Maurits Meijers discusses how European citizens who embrace populist beliefs view and participate in their countries' democracy. He argues that they support key democratic principles and institutions but tend to hold more majoritarian conceptions of democracy. He also finds that they are dissatisfied with political parties as institutions of political representation and are willing to sacrifice long-term democratic regime quality for better short-term policy representation. Speaker: Maurits J. Meijers is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Department of Political Science.

Om Podcasten

Over the past decade, a number of European populist parties have become increasingly competitive in key votes, and in Eastern Europe, these parties have not only come to power but also remained in office in consecutive elections. In this interview series, we will interrogate some of the main drivers and impacts of populist mobilization in Eastern Europe. The "Rise and Resilience of Populism in Eastern Europe" series is hosted by Dr. Tsveta Petrova and the European Institute at Columbia University. It is made possible with the support of the Erasmus + Programme of the European Union. The views expressed in this series are those of the speaker(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Institute or the EU Commission.