Michael Wilkinson is a professor of law at the London School of Economics and author of Authoritarian Liberalism and the Transformation of Modern Europe.
The European Union’s supporters often call it an antidote to nationalism — yet today the bloc is hardening its borders against the outside world. With citizens unable to change its basic economic orientation, the EU is ever more obsessed by identity.
Liberal “anti-populists” often portray grassroots democracy as more a threat than an asset. But as reactionaries turn to judges to win their political battles for them, it’s time the Left got serious about putting power in the hands of the majority.
The EU’s handling of recent crises has shown its lack of respect for democratic choice. This isn’t just a problem of having to take emergency measures: it’s the result of a decades-old project to remove economic decisions from popular control.