How to deal with the threat of European populism

Mainstream political parties have six responses to populism, namely, rejection, transfer, adoption, morality, identity and cooperation. The first four schemes are contrary to the conclusion of this paper, and the latter two schemes provide the best development prospects.

1, exclusion may be counterproductive, and the excluded party may take a more extreme ideological stance.

2. Resolution will make mainstream political parties turn public attention to places where they have advantages (such as economy). But this plan can't last long: if the immigration problem is not solved, the credit of public institutions will decline as a whole.

3. Adoption means a stricter policy on immigration and racial integration. In addition, the plan may alienate die-hard voters and inadvertently legitimize the movement of populist extremists.

4. The principle strategy requires a debate with populist extremist parties. The problem is that mainstream political parties all over Europe have been committed to describing the economic situation of immigrants. Mainstream elites need to start thinking about cultural diversity.

5. Different from the previous plan, the engagement strategy requires mainstream political parties to resist the grassroots movement of populist extremist parties, go deep into the grassroots, become part of the community, and establish closer ties with local groups.

6. Finally, interaction has resulted in more exchanges and dialogues between different ethnic and cultural groups.