POPULISM ASCENDANCE IN EUROPE: EXPLORING BACKLASH DYNAMICS AND THE DUAL PROCESS MECHANISMS THROUGH A ROMANIAN LENS
POPULISM ASCENDANCE IN EUROPE: EXPLORING BACKLASH DYNAMICS AND THE DUAL PROCESS MECHANISMS THROUGH A ROMANIAN LENS

Summary/Abstract: Over the past two decades throughout Europe, there has been a noticeable increase in public demonstrations of populist discourses, and the rise to power of populist political factions. With the aim of comprehending the reasons behind this phenomenon and identifying the factors underlying the growth of populist parties, this study centers on the Romanian case. The objective is to offer insights and solutions to ensure a stable democratic path of the European countries. For this, the study embraces a mixed approach of the cultural backlash theory and the dual process theory to explain the social change in the light of the current international events, and identifies reasons and motivations of the voters turning towards populist ideologies. The paper begins with a historical analysis of the development of Romanian political parties to discern potential variations in the preferences of the Romanian electorate. Then, the study follows the emergence of new parties in Romania over the past four years, aiming to assess the balance between pro-European and populist parties. In the end, the study follows the discourse delivered by representatives of populist parties in Romania, identifies keywords and specific subjects in their speeches, and emphasizes their impact on voters’ choice.

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