‘Democracy and the New Extremist Challenge in Europe’ Joint Sessions of the ECPR

Extremism is usually defined as (or used in the sense of) opposition to democracy; while democracy is identified with the prevailing regime. In this paper I will challenge this view and argue that: (a) the political system of countries like the Netherlands or the Federal Republic should be seen as a mixture of democratic, aristocratic and monarchic elements (in the Aristotelian sense); (b) extremist parties and movements wish to reduce this mixture to a more pure form of democracy or aristocracy or monarchy, if they focus on the political sphere; extremism in the socio-economic and socio-cultural sphere can be interpreted also as an attempt to reduce mixtures to something ‘pure ’ (pure socialism or pure capitalism, ethnic or religious purity). The conceptual analysis will be followed by empirical case studies of extremist parties in Germany and the Netherlands. Extremism and Democracy: a Conceptual Analysis According to the conventional view, political extremism and democracy are deadly enemies