«Right wing populism is on the rise in Europe. The traditional responses, from ignoring to diabolization, have proven to be largely ineffective. To fight populism successfully, established political parties, especially on the centre left, will have to look for new approaches. (...) So the defeat or at least containment of the populists lies in three strategies: engage with the concerns that fuel populism, construct a statecraft that can work and diminishes the potential pool for populism, and reinvigorate a mainly local, contact form of democracy that isn’t simply politics as campaign but rather politics as conversational democracy. None of this can be achieved in a single election campaign. It is a structural, organisational and behavioural change over a period time. In a single set of elections such as the upcoming European elections, there isn’t really a tactical solution to a strategic problem.»
ERNST HILLEBRAND (Ed.), Right Wing Populism in Europe – How do we Respond?, May 2014.
