De la frustration démocratique au populisme. Du populisme à la radicalisation droitière

While political frustration in the United States has been mainly captured and expressed by «populist» parties since the end of the 19th century, the European democracies have remained for a long time immune of what has often been characterized as a «pathology» of democracy. Frustration and revolt were in most cases channeled by parties with well defined radical ideologies. The Communist parties were the natural vehicles for popular protest while extreme right parties were less attractive after the dramatic experiences of nazi and fascist regimes. The collapse of the communist regimes appeared at first as a testimony of the supremacy and victory of the «western» democracy. Instead, far from being the expression of the «end of history», the post 1989 period coupled with the technological, financial, economic and commercial revolutions has triggered radical critique of the democratic regimes based on representation and elite-driven modes of government. Populist movements have emerged and prospered in nearly all representative democracies in Europe. The paper argues that populism is an answer to the mounting frustration of voters vis à vis the representative organizations (political parties) and their inability to tackle the multifaceted dimensions of change in complex societies. While they are most of the time unable to set up a government of their own, populist movements have a decisive impact on institutions by promoting new instruments such as primaries or referenda, by marginalizing some parties of government, by setting up the public debate and influencing the policy choices (immigration, welfare, Brexit). This mushrooming populism has often been equated with the extreme-right. This confusion is misleading, not only because there are many forms of populism but mainly because the populist programs do not challenge democracy by itself. Instead, they fight the liberal values which are at the heart of representative democracy. Rather than being the modern clones of the old extreme-right, the populist parties express the preference for illiberal policies, national values and strong (authoritarian?) leadership «in the name of the people».