Our 2018 conference in Talloires, France, brought together scholars from Europe and the US to consider the causes of—and threats posed by—the rise of radical politics on both sides of the Atlantic. Rather than engaging in definitional struggles or protracted debates about the primacy of one causal factor over another, the goal of the conference was to mobilize cutting-edge research toward a clear and accessible discussion concerning the future of democratic politics and equitable social relations in Europe and the United States. These topics were explored from multidisciplinary directions: political scientists reflected on institutional dynamics (and solutions) and the structure of party politics; sociologists brought to the discussion research on collective identities, group boundaries, and migration; and historically oriented scholars drew lessons from past periods of radicalism. A new six-part Monkey Cage series at the Washington Post, edited by Faculty Associates Bart Bonikowski and Daniel Ziblatt, features related commentary from conference participants. For an in-depth account of the panels and topics of discussion at Talloires, read the full report by Bo Yun Park, an affiliate of the Weatherhead Research Cluster on Comparative Inequality and Inclusion and PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology.
Monkey Cage Series
- Mainstream conservative parties paved the way for far-right nationalism
- Racially divisive parties have more voters now, but voters aren’t becoming more racist. What explains this?
- Both the Democrats and Republicans were once white majority parties. Now race divides them.
- Far-right voters don’t dislike government. They just want to keep its benefits for their own ethnic group
- Brexit shows how a tiny party can have big consequences
- The E.U. is supposed to promote democracy. So why do anti-democratic politicians thrive within it?
Full Report by Bo Yun Park
Bringing People Back in: Democracy’s Well-Being in the Age of Populism [PDF]
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Group photo of attendees of the 2018 Talloires Conference. Credit: Sarah Banse