Populism in Europe
Politiek in Nederland
Political Cynicism and the Rise of Neo-Populism
The focus of this proposed research is that political cynicism is due to declining social cohesion, which is the result of a diminishing social capital. This lack of social capital is conducive to political protest or apathy and is increasingly organised by political entrepreneurs – making use of new (or by taking over established) parties who seek access to politics via the electoral market. This type of electoral politics is successful insofar as traditional parties do not address the ‘crisis’ of representational politics or ignore the present developments within society (individualisation, erosion of social cohesion and capital, and modern forms of communication – like TV & ICT etc.). We seek to chart the extent to which horizontal societal links (social cohesion) is weakened, while the vertical links (citizen-political leadership) is re-invented and strengthened by political entrepreneurs. The extent to which political entrepreneurs in these circumstances emerge and are active in Europe is subject of our research. In addition we shall endeavour to explain how and to what extent this development affects the quality of the democratic process and in particular the degree of political interest representation in terms of responsiveness of traditional and new parties vis-à-vis party government. The mode of analysis is comparative by means of quantitative and qualitative data and by linking developments at the individual (micro) level with developments at the (macro) system level.