Political parties and dissensus over liberal democracy in the European Parliament

 

Abstract

Liberal democracy in the European Union faces significant challenges as its core pillars are increasingly contested, eroded, or dismantled. Against this backdrop, this special issue addresses the following question: how do political parties in the European Parliament engage with liberal democracy amid growing contestations? We argue that liberal democracy has become a source of conflict at the supranational level, generating dissensus - understood as conflict over meaning - that drives actors apart. Drawing on historical accounts of the rise and fall of democracy in Europe alongside research on ideology, we show that liberal democracy has never rested on stable consensus, and that political parties have always been central to its defence, challenge, and reinterpretation. Rather than a simple pro/anti-democratic divide, we contend that such dissensus is more complex: party families, shaped by distinct ideological traditions, selectively emphasize certain dimensions of democracy while contesting others. This introductory article also serves as an introduction to the six articles in the special issue, which trace how mainstream parties—including the radical left and the far right as well as social movements—articulate competing visions of democracy and position themselves on liberal democracy and the rule of law in the European Parliament.