The Differentiated Development Of Populist Parties In Contemporary Europe And Its Influence On European Integration

Since the outbreak of the European sovereign debt crisis in 2009,populist trends of thought and social movements have become increasingly active in European countries.Populist political parties have emerged one after another in European countries,and their political influence is also increasing.Although the rising populist parties in various countries all have the characteristics of anti-establishment and anti-elite populism,they differ significantly in many aspects such as ideology,identity,political appeal,and party organizational structure,and the differences far outweigh the commonalities.Through the comparative analysis of typical cases,contemporary European populist parties can be divided into three typical types: left-wing populist parties,sovereignist populist parties,and authoritarian populist parties based on different ideological characteristics and development directions.The difference between populist parties on the left and populists on the right is striking.Left-wing populist parties mainly appear in southern European countries.They are characterized by their focus on social equality,targeting the corrupt elite and transnational financial capital,demanding protection and expansion of social welfare,and narrowing the gap between rich and poor.Sovereignist populist parties and authoritarian populist parties are both right-wing populist parties,but the development of the two shows two different directions: Most sovereignist populist parties are active in Western and Northern Europe,and are characterized by still recognizing the freedom of mainstream Western society.It is a socialist ideology,but it emphasizes the priority of maintaining the sovereign integrity of the nation-state and the "purity" of the nation.Therefore,it calls itself a "sovereignist",whose essence is a conditional recognition of liberal principles and liberal democratic systems.Authoritarian populist parties are mainly active in Central and Eastern European countries,which are characterized by questioning liberal values and liberal democracy from Western Europe,trying to establish a "illiberal democracy" based on the unique national history and religious culture of Central and Eastern Europe,showing A direction of development that runs counter to liberalism.Judging from the reasons for the emergence of various populist parties,the emergence of left-wing populist parties is mainly due to the attention to social equality issues triggered by the European debt crisis,the influence of left-wing populist thoughts in Latin America,and the integration and transformation of traditional radical left-wing forces in Europe.The direct reason for the rise of sovereign populist parties is that the immigration crisis intensifies the antagonism of European society,but from the perspective of political culture,it reflects the stimulating effect of intergenerational cultural conflicts between materialist and post-materialist values on populism.The rise of authoritarian populist parties stems,on the one hand,from the incentives of the special institutional structures of Central and Eastern European countries after the transition,and on the other hand,it is inseparable from the bottom voters’ demand for political authority.Differentiated populist parties have brought great uncertainty to European party politics,which is likely to lead to fragmented development of European political parties and a split in identity in the future.Therefore,in the future,differences of identity within the EU and anti-integration voices will exist for a long time,and the European integration process is likely to tend to be gradual,conservative or stagnant,and even regress in some areas in the future.