Past Imperfect: Crisis, Political Extremes, and Democratic Challenges (Roundtable)

This roundtable is the concluding panel of the proposed symposium:  Challenging Legacies:  The New Old European Extremisms.  Established senior scholars address challenges to democracy in contemporary Europe that are arising as unintended consequences of the sovereign debt crisis.  Our focus is present oriented yet our frame of reference is broadly comparative and historical.  Participants will discuss issues such as the resurgence of nationalism, the emergence of a viable European right, the weakness of the left, and effects of neo-liberalism and globalization on European political options.   Panelists will address how the present day compares to past “great transformations,” as well as identifying similarities and differences between European politics of the 1930s and today