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The gains made by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in Germany's recent parliamentary election indicates populism is continuing to surge across Europe, a phenomenon that needs to be addressed by politicians and society.
Rising from an array of crises -- the global financial crisis, euro crisis and the refugee crisis -- populism has deep-rooted causes. How established political parties address them will determine the future development of the phenomenon.
Populism across Europe
The AfD gained 12.6 percent of votes in the federal election on Sunday, becoming the third largest party in the German parliament, the Bundestag, in only four years since its inception.
Although the result reflected the opinion polls before the election, German society was still surprised by the AfD's success.
Just after the poll results were announced, protests broke out across Germany against the party, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), together won the most votes with 33 percent, admitted that the emergence of the AfD was a big problem.
Rising from the euro crisis in 2013, the AfD was founded by academics and professors. But after the refugee crisis in 2015, it shifted from a conservative party focusing on economic issues to a far-right national conservative one concentrating on immigration and social issues.
The AfD has links with the Front National (FN) in France, also an anti-immigration and euroskeptic far-right populist party led by Marine Le Pen, who entered the second round of the presidential election this year.
Although Le Pen was defeated by Emmanuel Macron, who went on to become the president, the FN gained over one third of votes.
In Austria, the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) has also become popular in recent years. It has retained a high level of support -- about 30 percent -- enjoying a lead over the social democrats and the People's Party.
Over the past two decades, the FPO has shifted from an anti-Semitic and anti-immigration party to one against a specific religion.
Though it has become more moderate than before in a bid to prepare for a future coalition government, the FPO is still different from other parties, most notably in that it has called for a referendum, such as the one carried out in Switzerland in 2014, strictly limiting immigration and guarding national borders.
Deep-rooted causes
Social problems arising from crises and the democracy deficit created space for the rise of populism.
Although the German economy is growing rapidly, German society has become more unequal since the reunification of the two Germanies in 1990. Where wealth is concerned, Germany is significantly less equal than its European Union (EU) peers, with the richer households controlling a bigger share of assets than in most other West European states.
According to a survey by German media, the lack of social justice has become the second biggest social problem in the country, after the refugee issue.
"Prices are climbing, the rent is increasing, but our salaries are not increasing as quickly as living costs," Stephen Norman, a 52-year-old repair worker in Berlin, said. Norman had voted for the AfD in Sunday's election.
"I'm heavily taxed ... All Germans are heavily taxed, but we don't want to use our money to support refugees. That is unfair!" he said.
Other AfD supporters also said they did not want to rescue the poor southern European countries with their hard-earned money, which they were giving to the government as tax.
Not only did both the rich and poor vote for the AfD, but also people from different regions. About 27 percent of male voters in eastern Germany, the least developed region in the country, cast their ballots for the AfD.
The situation in France is similar. The rust belt of Lorraine in northeastern France, suffering economic stagnation, has become a major FN stronghold.
The merger of established parties has also paved the way for right-wing populism to represent some groups of people in society.
Oliver Marchart, a political scientist at the University of Vienna, said there is a democracy deficit because many established political parties have failed to represent the interests of all people.
Bastian Behrens, 43, voted for the AfD because he found that Germany's established parties had become almost identical.
"They used to be very different from each other, but the Union has turned left. They are no longer conservatives," Behrens said. "I hope the AfD can restore the conservatives' tradition in Germany."
It is widely believed in Germany that the CDU-CSU bloc introduced a number of social democratic policies which gained the support of traditional social democrats but lost many conservatives.
An uncertain future
With the other parties in the Bundestag refusing to ally with the AfD, the populist party cannot become a part of the government. Experts believe that the FN too will not be able to win the future presidential campaigns in France.
Although populist parties' influence in politics is restricted, their growth relies on whether the current social problems can be properly addressed.
Observers believe that in times of great challenges and doubts about the previous courses of major projects like the European integration, as well as a lot of social uncertainty and insecurity about the future, populism's causes need to be addressed by politicians and society.
Jean-Yves Camus, a researcher at the Paris-based French Institute for Strategic and International Affairs, told Xinhua that populism is a political attitude, more an ideology of favoring direct democracy rather than representative democracy.
Representative democracy, the traditional parties, and even the notion of a party, are experiencing a deep crisis in Europe.
In the case of Germany, Dr. Hajo Funke from the Free University of Berlin told Xinhua that the rise of the AfD reflected partly the failure of the grand coalition between Merkel's party and the Social Democratic Party.
"They should have done more for social issues, especially taking care of the unemployed, the single-parent family and children," Funke said.
Like globalization, the grand picture of European integration failed to benefit all the groups in society equally, and the difference between countries in terms of development and culture became more prominent after the expansion of the EU. All this should be tackled by Europe's political elites.
Marchart of the University of Vienna, who is studying the phenomenon of liberal anti-populism, said Western media and established parties, who are against populist parties, are opposed to other options outside the current mainstream new liberals.
How to revive the traditional parties is another issue that needs to be addressed by Merkel, Macron and other European leaders.
However, experts also say that the rise of populism should not be exaggerated. After hundreds of years of evolution in democratic politics, and especially after the miseries of two World Wars and Nazism, it is impossible for history to repeat itself.
"People can protest against the refugee or euro crisis, but they will not need a party which will endanger a stable democracy," Funke asserted.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
