“Challenges to Liberal Democracy: Populism, Polarization and Democratic Backsliding”

In recent years, democracy seems to have come under threat from different angles. Authoritarian politicians, dissatisfied citizens and polarized political systems have created a multitude of challenges even for established liberal democracies. In this inaugural lecture, I draw on my previous and future research to investigate three different challenges to liberal democracy from a citizen’s perspective. First, I explore the role of populism and populist attitudes. I explain why people turn towards populism and whether this should be considered as potential danger for liberal democracy. Second, I explore affective polarization as recent challenge to democracy that seems to undermine citizens’ commitment to democratic norms. Third, I turn my attention to citizens’ explicit support for democracy in times of crisis and whether they remain steadfast democrats or are increasingly open to authoritarian governance. The lecture finishes with potentials for future research that aim to not only understand democratic erosion but also provide implications for more democratic resilience.

Maximilian FILSINGER is Associate professor of comparative politics at ESPOL, Université catholique de Lille.