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Profs and Pints presents: “Why Populists Rise,” with Erik Jones, professor of European Studies and International Political Economy at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
The populist currents that brought us President Donald Trump and Brexit have been having an impact throughout Europe, with far-right populist parties assuming power in Italy, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, remaining a major factor in French and German politics, and fueling separatist movements in Belgium and Spain. What’s driving this uprising against political institutions?
Join Professor Erik Jones, the director of European and Eurasian Studies at SAIS and a prolific writer on European politics, as he examines what’s happening to advanced industrial democracies in the West and argues that having “democracy without solidarity” is what is getting their institutions in trouble.
Professor Jones believes that we spend too much time arguing about who is a populist, or what populism means, and not enough time asking ourselves why people no longer feel invested in political institutions. He holds that you can have the best political institutions in the world, but if the people who staff those institutions do not want them to work, then they won’t. Jean Jacques Rousseau wrote back in 1772 that constitutions have to be supported “in the hearts of the citizens” to function, and he warned that people who don’t see themselves as in the same position relative to the law will follow laws selectively and corrupt institutions to suit their own purposes. It’s an insight many seem to have forgotten.
The first step in addressing this problem is recognizing that we are not alone, and all advanced industrial democracies are suffering in many of the same ways at much the same time. Diagnosing what ails them is only the start. We’ll need to move beyond idealism and easy answers and develop a concrete plan for rebuilding a just and inclusive society. Being on hand for this talk might get you started on that path. (Tickets $10 in advance, $12 at the door.)
