FACTORS OF THE DECLINE OF LIBERALISM AND THE EMERGENCE OF POST-LIBERALISM IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study devoted to identifying and analyzing the factors of the crisis of liberalism and the formation of post-liberalism in the European Union. It is argued that the crisis of liberalism pushes practitioners and theorists to search for effective alternatives, and it is in this way that ideological solutions emerge: the intermediate one is neoliberalism and the more radical one is post-liberalism. The latter insists on a return to classical family values, religious ethics and national identity. Many politicians in the EU, without delving into the depths of the provisions of the post-liberal theory of democracy, popularize its own “reading” and, in order to increase the circle of their voters, promote popular and populist ideas, which, in turn, contribute to the strengthening of Euroscepticism. Among the key factors of the decline of the liberal tradition and the emergence of a post-liberal alternative, the following are highlighted: insufficiently managed economic globalization with its polarizing impact on societies (social inequality is growing, the quality of life of the average European is declining, social development is slowing down, etc.); existential fear of man (due to the threat of terrorist attacks, citizens agree to limit their own rights in the hope of “conditional” security and guarantees); certain unforeseen consequences of the digital revolution (fragmentation of the public sphere, personalization of politics, restrictions on real political participation of citizens); transformation of political identity (departure from cosmopolitanism, problems of multiculturalism, growth of xenophobic sentiments, inability to form a political identity that can replace national identity). The crisis of liberalism in the European Union endangers the European integration processes, as the Union has ultimately become less egalitarian, less democratic and less open to cultural diversity