Open AccessResponses of European Mainstream to Right-Wing Populism Challenges from the Perspective of the Resilience Concept: Case of the United Kingdom
Author(s) -
S.A. Shein
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
vestnik rossijskogo universiteta družby narodov. seriâ politologiâ
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2313-1446
pISSN - 2313-1438
DOI - 10.22363/2313-1438-2020-22-1-59-70
Subject(s) - mainstream , populism , politics , resilience (materials science) , political economy , psychological resilience , independence (probability theory) , political science , tipping point (physics) , unintended consequences , sociology , public administration , law , engineering , psychology , statistics , physics , mathematics , electrical engineering , psychotherapist , thermodynamics
The article explores how European political mainstream responds to the challenges of right-wing populism and how it effects the resilience of the political system. The British case serves as the empirical material for the article. Focusing on the concept of resilience as a quality of a political system to respond and adapt itself to internal challenges, we use the classification of mainstream strategic responses developed by W. Downs and the analytical tools of historical insti- tutionalism. The article investigates mainstream (Conservative and Labor) strategic responses to the challenges of right-wing populism (United Kingdom Independence Party, UKIP) in the UK. The research concludes that the political mainstream is moving from ignoring strategies to mixed strategies, such as cooptation of the UKIP’s program with elements of political and institutional isolation. Such strategies are effective from the electoral point of view, however, they may be fraught with “unintended consequences” affecting the resilience of the whole political system.