Josef Kirchengast on the role of populists in democracy

"Populists are a pretty much indispensable part of democracy in their role as seismographs," writes Austrian journalist Josef Kirchengast commenting on the success of populists in Eastern and Western Europe. "Not only do they expose existing problems – by exaggerating them – but they also expose the fundamental shortcomings of a democracy, in particular an unbalanced relationship between citizens and their representatives. This is why European democracies in both the East and the West are having such a hard time dealing with populists. In western Europe the growing problem of immigration and integration is fuelling the success of populist groups and politicians; in Eastern Europe it's mainly the economic and social consequences of the transformation following the collapse of communism. The problems are different but the approaches to dealing with populism are similar. Marginalisation, inclusion, or the adoption of similar content – these are the main tactics used regarding populist movements. Sometimes they overlap, but what they all have in common is that they have only been marginally successful and sometimes even counterproductive."

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