Open lecture with Professor Carlo Ruzza: The ‘populist turn’ in the EU and its impact on EU-level civil society

Keynote 3

Open lecture with Professor Carlo Ruzza: The ‘populist turn’ in the EU and its impact on EU-level civil society

Civil society organisations play an important role at EU level. For instance, they exert advocacy efforts on behalf of vulnerable groups such as discriminated minorities; they triangulate between civil society groups in member states and the EU level, they interact with the public sphere and organise sensitisation campaigns and engage in multiple forms of political mobilisation.

For these reasons, they have traditionally constituted an important component of the EU system of governance, which resulted in generous funding and substantial political legitimacy. However, their political opportunities have radically changed in recent years due to the success of populist parties and movements in several member states and at the EU level.

This success has impacted all EU institutions and affected the way civil society groups operate. This presentation focuses on the responses of different types of organisations to the populist challenge. Through a set of in-depth interviews and a text analysis of civil society position papers, it compares reactions of gender, anti-racist, human rights and sexuality organisations. It is argued that the ‘populist turn’ is differently understood by different types of groups and prompts different responses.

Carlo Ruzza is Professor of Sociology at School of International Studies, University of Trento. His research focuses particularly on the interaction between civil society organizations, social movement organizations and decision-making, particularly at EU level, and on the related implications for democracy. A second area of research is on ethno-nationalism and populism and specially on ‘uncivil society’ organizations – such as xenophobic groups and networks.