We Need Good Answers Now (TruLies Blog by Hanno Burmester)
What can the Left learn from Donald Trump’s victory? In his blog, Hanno Burmester puts forward five hypotheses on the outcome of the US election and calls for a reorientation of those who are appalled by the Republican’s win. It is not enough, argues Burmester, to interpret Trump’s election as an error or the breach of a taboo. Rather, the Left has to learn that its old proposals – such as left-wing centrism or direct democracy – are not appropriate in times of strong polarization. The Left needs to provide good answers to pressing questions – otherwise, right-wing populism will continue to be successful in Europe as well.
This contribution was originally published on 11/11/2016 in the Carta magazine. Hanno Burmester is Policy Fellow at Das Progressive Zentrum in Berlin and works on the future of democracy.
The project “TruLies – The Truth about Lies on Europe”, aided by the Stiftung Mercator and run by the Institute for European Politics (IEP) in cooperation with Das Progressive Zentrum, has two principal objectives. On the one hand, it strives to deconstruct Eurosceptic and populist prejudices, animosities, and false assertions, by means of social scientifically-grounded analysis. Thus, it aims to contribute to a rationalisation of the public discourse and debate in Germany (and beyond). On the other hand, “TruLies Europe” endeavours to publicly communicate its findings beyond the select circle of scholars to political actors, civil society, and the wider public. You may find further information on our website: http://trulies-europe.de/.
Hanno Burmester’s contribution can be found here.