Prolog: Culture, populism and democracy in Europe.
In recent years we have in Europe experienced a political drama where the huge issues of nationalism, populism and the undermining of the present form of democracy have been put on top of the cultural and political agenda.
Ghosts of Populism (and Nationalism) are walking through Europe. The accustomed political and social cultures, the role of the arts and cultural institutions in society and the elementary human rights in Europe developed after World War II, seem to be threatened for several reasons
The point is here, that the arts and cultural institutions in democratic societies ought not to be dominated or colonized by political, ideological, economical rationalities and strategies. The overall aim of the arms length principle should help to ensure freedom of arts, cultural institutions and cultural democracy in society. Issues to be discussed in the presentation and the plenum of European Experts on the issue "Culture, populism and democracy in Europe":

1.Reasons to populism?

2.Is populism a new phenomenon?

3.Populism as catch-all label?

4.Common indicators of populism

5.How to deal with populists?

6.Epilogue: How to cope democratically with populism?

7.Proposal to a comparative COE study on populism

8. Notes

9.References

10. CV and publikations