From Washington to Warsaw to Athens and Berlin, anti-establishment politicians continue to advance at the expense of those on the center-left and center-right. This seems to have become the new normal and the Italian elections of 4 March 2018 only confirmed "in a quite spectacular way a general trend", even if the last regional elections send different signals.
Today's Italy represents "a textbook case of counter-revolution" according to Jan Zielonka, professor of European politics at the University of Oxford and staunch liberal, author of an essay, Counter-Revolution. The defeat of liberal Europe, published in Italy by Laterza, in the form of a long and articulated letter to his now deceased mentor Ralph Dahrendorf, also following in the footsteps of his master, who years ago had written a work using the same narrative register. Zielonka analyzes what has happened in liberal democracies over the last thirty years and, with a very critical spirit, defines the errors by admitting the defeat of that system in which, despite everything, he still believes but which needs profound and structural changes and adjustments.
Revolutions and counter-revolutions always bring about turmoil, and "we have not yet witnessed the worst manifestations of the confusion and conflict generated by the current political frenzy". The "newcomers" have raised a great many valid criticisms of the liberal establishment, but knowing how to destroy an old order does not imply being able to build a new one: "the universe of government is something other than the cosmos of opposition".
All the considerable efforts to increase state spending and to expand the rights of the employed are likely to trigger a reaction from the markets, a transfer of business abroad and a consequent disappointment in the voters and "the new government must know in advance how to deal these situations".
The media likes to focus on the individualities and political backgrounds, but should instead "give space to the political dilemmas that these new governments with sweeping agendas for change face." Focusing the lens on the values and norms that hide behind political slogans, look at Italy as a "special case of the fascinating historical experiment" that is developing in Europe. An experiment that is both a danger and an opportunity.
Some, many indeed, would be happy to preserve the status quo or even turn back the clock to a 'mythical past'. Many liberals yearn for a return to "the good old days of the liberal kingdom" and do not want to see any change.
In the last thirty years they have given priority to freedom over equality, economic goods have received more attention and protection than political ones, private values have been cherished more than public ones, now "these priorities must be revisited". For Zielonka, the reforms of parliaments will not produce miracles, he therefore needs to build or rebuild democracy on other pillars besides representation: "particularly participation, the exchange of opinion and protest". Liberalism can no longer devote itself "neither to the defense of the status quo nor to the imposition of any dogma".
Populism has become an almost universal topic of discussion. Liberals have proven to be "more adept at pointing fingers at others than at reflecting on themselves." They spend much more time explaining the birth and defects of populism than illuminating the reasons for the "fall of liberalism". Jan Zielonka's book intends to focus attention precisely on this imbalance, it is "the self-critical book of someone who has always been a liberal".
Today the whole of Europe is in "a state of confusion", citizens feel insecure and angry, "their leaders turn out to be incompetent and dishonest", their entrepreneurs appear furious and political violence is on the rise. Zielonka wonders if it is possible to reverse the pendulum of history and how it should be done.
The "neoliberal deviation has done a lot of damage", but the author does not consider it plausible to abandon some central points of the "liberal faith": rationality, freedom, individuality, power under control and progress. He declares that he is convinced that the current difficulties of the European situation can transform "into another wonderful Renaissance", but this will require serious reflection on what has gone wrong so far.
In Europe, politics has increasingly taken the form of «an art of institutional engineering» rather than «the art of negotiation between the elites and the electorate». More and more powers have been delegated to non-elected institutions - central banks, constitutional courts, regulatory agencies -. "Politics inclined to give in to public pressure was considered irresponsible, if not dangerous."
Counter-revolutionary politicians are often referred to as populists, but "this term is misleading and stigmatizing" and, according to Zielonka, it misses their key objective, which is to abolish the order established since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and replace the elites that spawned it.
As intellectuals, we must not cultivate a «Manichean thought of black or white».
As Democrats, one must never be ironic about electoral choices.
As public activists, we shouldn't be under the illusion that people suddenly “wake up” and “sit back behind us again”.
The aim, Zielonka points out, is not simply to prove the criticisms wrong, but to see whether liberal ideals hold up in the face of social and technological change.
The most frequent explanation of today's plight for liberals is the neoliberal turn. But "was liberalism kidnapped by greedy bankers or was it an ideal breeding ground for self-indulgence?"
The 1989 revolution revolved around concepts such as democracy, security, Europe, borders and culture. People wanted to be governed by a different kind of politician and the author fears that "the situation today is similar". Counter-revolutionary politicians not only oppose individual liberal policies, but defy their entire logic, and "try to usher in a new normal."
Whether or not a country can afford a more incisive social policy is not only "a function of statistical facts but also of political choices". Much depends on the conception one has of good and justice. And instead, absurdly, those who suggest a minimum wage or a bonus for each child who joins the family end up being "labeled by neoliberals as irresponsible populists". Then Zielonka quotes Andrew Calcutt, who argues that, rather than blame populism because it "achieves what we have set in motion", it would be better to recognize "the shameful part that we have played in all of this".
Only through a profound and articulated self-criticism will liberalism and liberals manage not to succumb to the advance of the counter-revolutionaries. Only this will allow them to review principles and dogmas by adapting to the now changed times. This is the only way forward for Jan Zielonka who several times in the text underlines his firm belief in the pure and original values of liberalism. Those that should not be abandoned, rather rediscovered. And it is with this albeit feeble hope that he dismisses the reader of Counter-Revolution. A book that tells the degeneration of the current system as well as those of those who would like to fight and change it. A book that is a heartfelt request for change, adjustment and, above all, balance.
Reference Bibliography
Jan Zielonka, Counter-Revolution. The defeat of liberal Europe, Editori Laterza, 2018. Translation by Michele Sampaolo from the original edition Counter Revolution. Liberal Europe in RetreatOxford University Press, 2018.
Author biography
Jan Zielonka teaches European Policies at the University of Oxford and is a Ralf Dahrendorf Fellow at St Antony's College.
