The Great Recession and political conflict in Europe

• Pages: 11-12

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The Great Recession and

political conf‌lict in Europe

e EU-funded POLCON project aims to understand the impact that the Great

Recession has had on the development of political conict in Europe.

In the autumn of 2008, Lehman Brothers went bankrupt and

the dominoes that made up our global economic order began

to fall. The result was the decade-long economic crisis known

as the Great Recession.

Although much of our post-crisis analysis has focused on the

economic fallout of the Great Recession, little thought has been

given to its political repercussions. But this could be where

the real impact is felt, with some observers even wondering

whether or not democracy itself can survive its grave economic

consequences.

The EU-funded POLCON (Political Conflict in Europe in the

Shadow of the Great Recession) project is studying the struc-

turation of political conflict in Europe, based on an analysis of

political contestation in the electoral arena, the protest arena

CORDIS Results Pack on elections and democratic participation

Understanding turbulent political times through innovative EU-funded research