Abstrakt
The motivation for the conference was the growth of contemporary European populism which represents one of the most topical problems that liberal democratic regimes on the continent must face. To understand the nature of the success of populists on a general level and in individual countries, it was useful to examine the causes of this phenomenon during the period from the outbreak of the economic crisis to the present.
The event is dedicated to a comparative analysis of individual European countries where populism represents an important element of politics. The conference was organised by the Institute of International Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague and by the Heinrich Böll Stiftung together with the Goethe Institut in Prague and Václav Havel Library.
The conference was under the auspices of His Magnificence Tomáš Zima, Rector of Charles University in Prague and His Excellency Arndt Freiherr Freytag von Loringhoven, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Czech Republic. The event took place in the conference hall of the Goethe Institut in Prague.
In two days there were several panels dedicated to various topic connected to current populism in Europe (theoretical approaches towards current populism, the impact of populism on the political and party systems, welfare chauvinism, populism in the coutries most affected by the crisis or populism in the new EU member countries). During the conference there were three keynote speeches delivered by Jacques Rupnik, Luke March and Othon Anastasakis.