Transnational Populism and European Democracy

The political crisis in Europe indicates: (1) an ever larger distance between formal politics and European society, and, (2) an increasing politicization of European integration, i.e., increased attention to EU issues in public debate. Social-scientific research and public debate focus on negative implications for European integration, in terms of populism and Euroscepticism, while alternative narratives of European integration are dismissed as radical and populist. Research hardly addresses positive political capacities, imagination, innovative, and institutional responses of Trans-European Movements (TEMs) to the crisis, which include views on the EU’s future. Focusing on two transnational networks: DiEM25 and European Alternatives, the project fills the knowledge gap by: (a) systematically analyzing TEMs comprehensive, constructive ideas regarding the future of the European polity, (b) evaluating the radical and populist nature of ideas, and, (c) researching the visibility and resonance of movements’ political claims in the European public sphere.