He's Worse than Me: The Eurosceptic Parties at the Turning Point
<span class="abs_content">One of the most important reasons for the expansion of Eurosceptic parties is the worsening of the economic crisis. This and, more generally, the processes of globalization/denationalization have not had the same effects for all citizens; a new structural co...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Coordinamento SIBA
2015-03-01
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| Series: | Partecipazione e Conflitto |
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| Online Access: | http://siba-ese.unisalento.it/index.php/paco/article/view/14785 |
| Summary: | <span class="abs_content">One of the most important reasons for the expansion of Eurosceptic parties is the worsening of the economic crisis. This and, more generally, the processes of globalization/denationalization have not had the same effects for all citizens; a new structural conflict, opposing the “winners” and “losers” of glob-alization, has arisen. Usually the mainstream political parties tend to take the “winners’” side, while the peripheral parties tend to adopt a “loser’s”’ programme and to use Euroscepticism as a mobilizing issue; the electoral constituency of the Eurosceptic parties is therefore formed, above all, by the “losers” of globalization. The 2014 European elections represented an important turning point for the Eurosceptic parties; they obtained an unprecedentedly large percentage of votes, but no “political earthquake”, “sweeps”, or “Europe’s populist backlash” occurred. The Eurosceptic parties have never been able to form a joint anti-European front, because of their mutual mistrust. “He’s worse than me”, could be the state-ment that best epitomizes the relationships within the Eurosceptic right-wing camp. A further exacerba-tion of the economic crisis and/or the inability of the EU institutions in addressing it could lead such parties towards new and more considerable achievements.</span><br /> |
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| ISSN: | 1972-7623 2035-6609 |