A Trumpetisation of European Politics? A Pessimistic Outlook on 2017 (TruLies Blog by Florian Hartleb)
In Germany as in the rest of Europe, politics and media are struggling to find effective remedies for a new wave of populism. In the context of the migration crisis and an increased terrorist threat, Florian Hartleb sees a danger of demagogues finding popular support and surpassing all inhibition thresholds thought to be in place in a democracy by constantly breaking taboos. However, in his commentary he points out that even in the past, misrepresentations of the truth have always been a part of politics and that therefore, the so called post-factual times are not as novel a phenomenon as we might think. Nevertheless, he fears that nowadays, traditional media cannot reach the voters anymore since most of them are getting their news on social networks. Hartleb thus considers it to be Europe’s duty to strengthen trust in the institutions and find better responses to populists, lest there be civilizational setbacks.
Dr. Florian Hartleb is a political scientist and author. His commentary is a summary of the findings of his book “The hour of populists. How our politics are being trumpetised and what we can do to stop it” (published at Wochenschau-Verlag).
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/.
Florian Hartleb’s contribution can be found here.
