European populists’ idolization of Putin and Trump

While Trump and Putin’s zero-sum worldview might seem alluring for European populists, the consequences of them adopting such a strategy will not benefit European citizens.

In this article in the Washington Post, Senior Researcher Fabrizio Tassinari analyses how Trump and Putin’s nativist and protectionist strategies have gained popularity among European populists. Tassinari points to how these strategies will prove unbeneficial in the long run. Further he stresses that European populists ignore the accomplishments of an integrated Europe, while discrediting how European institutions and practices have dealt with the challenge of global interdependence.

Additionally, the article acknowledges the gap between European initiatives to promote liberal values and the European citizens’ increasing dissatisfaction with this narrative. European populists have used this gap to their advantage. This gap should rather, according to Tassinari, be reason to begin “a conversation about the way societies and especially mature democracies organize and govern themselves.”