Populism in Romania: Between Numbness and Strong Reactions (TruLies Blog by Damian Alexandru)
How can we resist the Erdoganization and Orbanization of democracy? In his blog, Damian Alexandru provides a positive reading of the situation in Romania: Though a populist and xenophobic election campaign led the Social-Democrats to victory and government, once in power, the party had difficulties to fulfill its promises and antagonized parts of society. When the government then attempted to decriminalize corruption-like offences, the largest protests since the fall of communism erupted in Romania. Alexandru thus argues that it is civil society resistance that can stop populism, fake news, and the establishment of “illiberal democracies”.
Damian Alexandru is a Researcher at the Romanian Center for European Policies.
The project “TruLies – The Truth about Lies on Europe”, aided by the Stiftung Mercator and run by the Institute for European Politics (IEP) in cooperation with Das Progressive Zentrum, has two principal objectives. On the one hand, it strives to deconstruct Eurosceptic and populist prejudices, animosities, and false assertions, by means of social scientifically-grounded analysis. Thus, it aims to contribute to a rationalisation of the public discourse and debate in Germany (and beyond). On the other hand, “TruLies Europe” endeavours to publicly communicate its findings beyond the select circle of scholars to political actors, civil society, and the wider public. You may find further information on our website: http://trulies-europe.de/.
Damian Alexandru’s contribution can be found here.
