In the last decade, the classical political scene of the 1970s-1980s-1980s changed, in some cases dramatically. Beside the electoral results of the UKIP and of other populist/eurosceptic parties in the recent years, even in the mainstream political areas where once Social Democrats or Conservatives dominated things changed.

In France, in 2017, the two main competitors of the presidential elections were not members of the traditional left or right; in Austria, similarly, the presidential elections left outside the two main parties, the Social Democrats and the People’s Party. In Romania, at the 2016 parliamentarian elections, the third place was taken by a party formed just month before the elections, which clearly stated that it has no ideological bounds. So was the case in Hungary, with the ascension of Jobbik, or in Poland, with the virtual disappearance of leftist parties, or in Greece, where Syriza significantly reshaped the two party system.

Not to mention the victory of Donald Trump in the US, a candidate who also came from outside of the establishment.

What used to be a classical game between the left and right, or a “ménage a trois” between the conservatives/Christian-democrats, liberals and social-democrats/socialists, became a story not many could anticipate. Parties that did not exist few years before the elections, with no resources, even with no headquarters, are winning elections, or receive a lot of votes, being on the top of electoral lists. The Eurosceptic groups are a serious concern in the European Parliament, at least regarding the future of further integration, and at national level, the main alliances are formed not against the communist parties, as forty years ago, but against populist/Eurosceptic new comers (see the Netherlands, France).

Europe is saved, many said after the 2016 Austrian elections and the 2017 French presidential elections. Yet, while in both cases, some outcomers were the contenders, one must not forget that Britain is leaving the EU, due to the effort of UKIP, and that in Poland or Hungary parties that are proposing some undemocratic policies are winning elections and ruling without the need of a coalition.  

The 23/2017 issue of the On-line Journal Modelling the New Europe attempts to address among other pressing issues the following questions:

• What happened in the recent decades in the political area?
• How could the emergence of all these new political movements be explained?
• Is this a phase, such the one we witnessed in the 1970s, or the political arenas are facing new paradigms and developments?

Guest Editor: Lecturer Ovidiu Vaida, PhD, Faculty of European Studies, Babes-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Romania

The issue is double-peer reviewed by independent academics related to the field of study of the articles proposed. The Editorial Staff is looking forward to receiving your papers until August 25, 2017.

Please send your contributions to: ovidiuvaida@yahoo.com; miruna.balosin@ubbcluj.ro;

For information regarding author guidelines, please access: http://neweurope.centre.ubbcluj.ro/?page_id=1654