Economic Liberalism, Migration, and Illiberal Democracies: What Happened to the Promise of Liberal Democracy in Europe after 1989?

Abstract: 35 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the current political context in Europe is marked by a rise in nationalist far-right political movements and a general tendency to restrict free travel and many fundamental rights. This paper seeks to explore reasons why the optimism of the early 1990s has disappeared, both in the old and new member States of the EU. It links together the complex interplay of economic and political liberalism as they have unfolded over the past 35 years and what the migration of workers from the East to the West has meant for countries of emigration and immigration and how a model of economic governance based on generalised competition has fed frustrations on both sides.

Keywords: economic liberalism, migration, far-right parties, models of capitalism, demography

Jay Rowell is a CNRS research director in political sociology and currently the director of the Centre Marc Bloch in Berlin. He researched the social and political history of the GDR before going on to study the sociology of European Union actors and policies.

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