Alpbach Lab 03: Democratic Stress, the Populist Signal and Extremist Threat: Regenerating Europe’s Politics Through ‚Contact Democracy‘ and Statecraft

The rise of populism seen across Europe and the US is exposing old and hidden fault-lines in democratic systems. Populists are routinely dismissed as protest parties, clowns and flashes in the pan . In fact, real demand exists for Europe s populists and they must be seen as serious challenger movements that the established parties ignore at their peril. This Lab will identify where mainstream politics has failed to date. The core question for the Lab will be: how can we regenerate a notion of contact democracy as a means of refreshing democracies that have become tired and stressed?