Populism as a Consequence of the Economic Crisis: A Comparative Analysis of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia

Prvu polovicu 21. stoljeća obilježio je val populizma. Zapadne države borile su se, ili se još uvijek bore, da vrate vjeru u demokratske institucije. Na istoku su se, pak, države borile s demokratskim institucijama u nastanku i stresnim procesima tranzicije i transformacije. Ovaj će rad nastojati dokazat da je gospodarska kriza dodatno ojačala populističke pokrete, s fokusom na države Srednje Europe, i to tako što je produbila političke krize u tom dijelu Europe. Prvi dio rada prikaz je populizma u teoriji. Osim definicije i tipologije, preispituje se odnos populizma i liberalne demokracije. Druga cjelina analizira kontekst nastanka i aktivnosti populističkih pokreta u Češkoj, Mađarskoj, Poljskoj i Slovačkoj, prema zastupljenosti populističkih stranaka u političkim institucijama i prema analizi njihovih diskursa. Cilj je preispitati korelaciju gospodarske krize i pojave populističkih stranaka na političkoj sceni navedenih država.First half of the 21st century was marked by the wave of populism. West European countries have been struggling to restore faith in democratic institutions. East European countries, on the other hand, have been struggling with democratic institutions in the process of making and with stressful processes of transformation and transition. The aim of this work is to prove that the economic crisis has encouraged populist movements by deepening the political crisis in Central East European countries. The first chapter of the text is about populism in theory. Beside definitions and typology, it questions the relation between populism and liberal democracy. The main part of this work analyses the context of the emergence and practice of populist movements in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, according to their representation in political institutions and by analyzing their discourses. It will question how high is the correlation between the economic crisis and (re)emergence of populist parties in the above mentioned countries