Resisting ambiguously anti-democratic parties: What role for the state, political parties and civil society?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Resisting ambiguously anti-democratic parties

T2 - What role for the state, political parties and civil society?

AU - Tuovinen, Juha

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

PY - 2023/12

Y1 - 2023/12

N2 - This paper considers how ambiguously anti-democratic political parties can be responded to in an effort to protect the constitutional system. The first part of the paper presents the idea of an ambiguously anti-democratic party and the potential dangers these may pose to the constitutional system. The central idea is that threats to democratic states arise often from parties who are able to disguise their anti-democratic ambitions. The second part considers the different ways in which public authorities, political parties and civil society have responded to ambiguously anti-democratic parties and how their different roles and positions in the constitutional system affect the way in which they can respond to different aspects of these parties. Broadly speaking, the different actors respond to different actions by the ambiguously anti-democratic party, creating different opportunities to oppose ambiguously anti-democratic parties. The final section considers some synergies between the different types of actors and their responses as well as the choice between tolerant and intolerant modes of engaging ambiguously anti-democratic parties, arguing in favor of modes that expose the intolerant nature of anti-democratic parties.

AB - This paper considers how ambiguously anti-democratic political parties can be responded to in an effort to protect the constitutional system. The first part of the paper presents the idea of an ambiguously anti-democratic party and the potential dangers these may pose to the constitutional system. The central idea is that threats to democratic states arise often from parties who are able to disguise their anti-democratic ambitions. The second part considers the different ways in which public authorities, political parties and civil society have responded to ambiguously anti-democratic parties and how their different roles and positions in the constitutional system affect the way in which they can respond to different aspects of these parties. Broadly speaking, the different actors respond to different actions by the ambiguously anti-democratic party, creating different opportunities to oppose ambiguously anti-democratic parties. The final section considers some synergies between the different types of actors and their responses as well as the choice between tolerant and intolerant modes of engaging ambiguously anti-democratic parties, arguing in favor of modes that expose the intolerant nature of anti-democratic parties.

KW - Civil society

KW - Democratic backsliding

KW - Militant democracy

KW - Political parties

U2 - 10.1057/s41295-023-00340-w

DO - 10.1057/s41295-023-00340-w

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85148637992

SN - 1472-4790

VL - 21

SP - 834

EP - 847

JO - Comparative European Politics

JF - Comparative European Politics

IS - 6

ER -