Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Populism is now more popular than liberty with European voters: Study
Populism is now more popular than liberty with European voters: Study
Apr 9, 2025 12:52 AM

How popular is populism in Europe? A new study reveals that populist parties have displaced traditional advocates of liberty among European voters. It also reveals the nations where populism attracts the greatest support.

The information is found in the 2017 “Authoritarian Populism Index,” released by the Swedish libertarian think tank Timbro, along with the European Policy Information Center.

The report refers to the philosophy of limited government, free markets, and respect for individual rights as “Liberalism,” in the European sense. In the United States, this is sometimes described as “classical liberalism.” And it has been outpaced by populism, the report states.

“Authoritarian-Populism has overtaken Liberalism and has now established itself as the third ideological force in European politics, behind Conservatism/Christian Democracy and Social Democracy,” according to the study’s authors.

Researchers studied political parties espousing a populist message in all 33 nations ranked “free” by Freedom House. That includes all 28 present members of the European Union, as well as Iceland, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, and Switzerland.

They found that populist parties have nearly doubled their support over the last 20 manding the votes of 55.8 million people, or 17.5 percent of voters. They also hold 1,342 of the 7,843 parliament seats available in the countries surveyed.

Parties advocating Liberalism have remained static at 12 percent support since 1997.

Timbro studied both “right-wing” and “left-wing” populist movements. Right-wing populism, such as Marine Le Pen’s National Front, may focus on ethnic or migration issues, while left-wing populism attacks corporate power. Yet both varieties seek to increase government economic intervention, wealth redistribution, and barriers to international trade.

Populist parties receive the greatest percentage of the vote in Hungary (65.2%), Poland (46.4%), Greece (45.1%), Switzerland (30.8%), Italy (28.2%), Cyprus (25.7%), Austria (24%), Spain (21.2%), and Denmark (21.2%).

Are supporters of liberty “populist”?

There are two phenomena in the report worth noting. First, the support for radical left-wing parties have fallen by two-thirds since 1980, according to Timbro. One suspects that the former radicals have simply rebranded themselves as populists.

Second, the report’s definition of populism offers hope and a roadmap forward. Timbro defines populist parties by six markers:

1) the self-image that they are in conflict with a corrupt and crony elite; 2) a lack of patience with the rule of law; 3) a demand for direct democracy; 4) the pursuit of a more powerful state through police and military on the right and nationalisation of banks and big corporations on the left; 5) highly critical of the EU, immigration, globalisation, free trade and NATO; 6) the use of revolutionary language and promises of dramatic change.

By those criteria, supporters of liberty would score 50 percent on the populist scale.

We certainly see ourselves as “in conflict with a corrupt, crony elite.” Cronyism is fueled by large, remote government. The more taxpayer funds, contracts, and favors government has to distribute – and the more taxes, regulations, and sanctions it can impose – the greater the penchant for graft, bribery, and corruption. Classical liberalism would avoid this pitfall by constraining the state within strictly delimited boundaries.

Free marketeers are “highly critical” of the EU – and rightly so – with its tens of thousands of regulations, 18 percent tariffs on imported food, and an often imperious advocacy of an “ever-closer union.”

The rhetoric of classical liberals should not be considered revolutionary. It is rooted in the reality of human nature as described by revelation and manifest throughout history. Their proposals should be based in reality, with a strong infusion of prudence. But if the modern transatlantic sphere were to embrace a classical liberal outlook, it would experience “dramatic change.”

Liberty recognizes two of the main driving forces of the populist explosion: cronyism and global governance. And it prescribes the right cure. To prevail, its adherents must offer a different narrative than the shrill, envy-filled braying of homegrown demagogues. They must show the superiority of their prescriptions.

In a word, they pete.

The report concludes that “left- and right-wing anti-establishment parties are here to stay. Whether or not their authoritarian and illiberal ideas will spread too remains an open question.”

That question hinges on the whether advocates of liberty will make a case for the views that have laid the bedrock upon which every other ideology contends.

Ehrmann. This photo has been cropped. CC BY 2.0.)

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
A Case against Chimeras: Part III
Part III of our series focuses on the human fall into sin and the disastrous consequences that follow from it. Fall – Genesis 9:1–7 The harmonious picture of the created order is quickly marred, however, by the fall of human beings. The fall has prehensive effects, both on the nature of humans themselves, and on the rest of creation. The corruption of the relationship between humans and the rest of the created order is foreshadowed in the curses in Genesis...
The Inevitable Loophole
On yet another day in a long season of bad news for Catholic schools in major urban areas, Chicago’s historic high school seminary is slated to close. Michael J. Petrilli addresses the broader context of the problem in this analysis on NRO. The first part of the article lays out the by now familiar reasons for the epidemic of Catholic school closures in cities such as Detroit and Boston. More interesting is the second part, in which Petrilli reveals that...
The Baby Market
America’s fertility clinics are now allowing parents to screen embryos according to sex, and more are opting for this practice. Kevin Schmiesing observes that the idea of children as “gift” is under increasing stress as alternative and sometimes conflicting notions of child as right, as burden, or as consumer pete for dominance. Despite the great power of the market to satisfy the needs and wants of humanity, “its advantages turn pernicious when it passes human goods that should never be...
2006 Catholic High School Honor Roll Released
This year’s Catholic High School Honor Roll has been released. Go to Acton’s redesigned Honor Roll webpage to view both the top-50 and the category leader lists. The webpage also features a virtual newsroom that tracks news stories about Honor Roll schools. The Honor Roll recognizes quality Catholic secondary schools across the nation. With it, Acton offers a unique evaluation system that assesses their overall quality based on the criteria of academic excellence, Catholic identity, and civic education. The annual...
A Case against Chimeras: Part IV
The penultimate installment of the series on the biblical/theological case against chimeras focuses on the impact and significance of redemption. Redemption – Romans 8:18–27 Flowing out of our discussion on creation and fall, it is the recognition that there still are limits on human activity with regard to animals that is most important for us in this discussion. The apostle Paul notes that “the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the...
Honor Roll discussion on Welborn blog
In case you missed it, there is a great discussion brewing on Amy Welborn’s blog about the Honor Roll. Specifically there is reference to the examination of civic education as a criterion, specifically regarding a school’s teaching of economics, business, and Catholic social teaching. Go to her blog to follow the discussion. ...
A Case against Chimeras: Part V
Our week-long series concludes with a reflection on the implications of the great biblical theme of the consummation of creation into the new heavens and the new earth. Consummation – Revelation 22:1–5 To the extent that we are able in this life, Christians are called to the path of holiness. This path begins with the recognition of the boundaries God has set up, in the created and preserved world and in his law, both in its divine and natural promulgations....
An Invisible Harmony
Photograph from NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity at the rim of “Victoria Crater” in Mars’ Meridiani Planum region (Sept. 26, 2006). For anyone who reflects, the appearances of beauty e the themes of an invisible harmony. Perfumes as they strike our senses represent spiritual illumination. Material lights point to that immaterial light of which they are the images. Dionysius the Areopagite Celestial Hierarchy I,3 (PG 3,121) ...
BreakPoint’s ‘The Point’
Chuck Colson introduces a new initiative at BreakPoint, a blog called “The Point,” which will feature contributions from “sixteen people blogging on pretty much everything under the sun: persecution of Christians, literary edy troupes, AIDS, the ments on Islam, TV dramas . . . you name it, they’re blogging about it.” It’s been added to our blogroll. Check it out. ...
A Change of Climate at The Economist
At the request of Andy Crouch, who is among other things editorial director for The Christian Vision Project at Christianity Today, I have taken a look at the editorial from The Economist’s special issue from Sept. 9. To recap, Andy asked me, “what are your thoughts about The Economist’s special report on climate change last week, in which they conclude that the risks of climate change, and the likely manageable cost of mitigation, warrant the world, and especially the US,...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved