Anti-System Politics in Europe: the crisis of market liberalism in rich democracies [Audio]

Speaker(s): Dr Jonathan Hopkin | At this year’s Annual Lecture, which marks the 10th anniversary of LEQS and follows just days after this year’s European parliamentary elections, Jonathan Hopkin will discuss the recent ruptures in the politics of the rich democracies, signalled by electoral instability across Europe, as well as dramatic events like the election of Donald Trump to the US Presidency and the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union. Dr Hopkin argues that these tumultuous political developments are a consequence of a longer-term crisis of market liberalism, resulting from the abandonment of the post-war model of egalitarian capitalism in the 1970s. This shift in politics entailed weakening the democratic process in favor of an opaque, technocratic form of governance that allows voters little opportunity to influence policy. With the financial crisis of the late 2000s, these arrangements became unsustainable, as incumbent politicians were unable to provide solutions to economic hardship. Electorates demanded change, and it had to come from outside the system. Jonathan Hopkin (@jrhopkin) is Associate Professor of Comparative Politics in the Department of Government at LSE. Miriam Sorace (@MiriamSorace) is an LSE Fellow in EU Politics at LSE’s European Institute. The LSE European Institute (@LSEEI) is a centre for research and graduate teaching on the processes of integration and fragmentation within Europe. In the most recent national Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) the Institute was ranked first for research in its sector. The LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series (@leqsLSE) was established in May 2009 to publish high quality research on Europe and the European Union from scholars across LSE and beyond. Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEEurope