European politics are increasingly challenged by polarisation. The New Left and the New Right play a central role in this process. Both justify their novelty by declaring the old right-left opposition obsolete and by politicising individuals beyond partisanship. Both are driven by the desire to turn politics into an emotionally charged field and move away from a purely rational understanding of politics. In this debate, Cynthia Miller-Idriss and Jan Kubik focus on the polarisation between what is perceived as rational politics and politics of emotion in the New Left and the New Right.

Cynthia Miller-Idriss (@milleridriss) is professor of Education and Sociology at the American University. Her research focusses on the cultural and aesthetic dimensions of radical and extreme youth culture. She is the author of The Extreme Gone Mainstream Commercialization and Far Right Youth Culture in Germany and Blood and Culture: Youth, Right-Wing Extremism and National Belonging in Contemporary Germany.

Jan Kubik (@KubikJan) is professor of Slavonic and East European Studies at UCL and Political Science at Rutgers University. He researches the interplay between power and culture, protest and social movements, and post-communist transformations and has published books on Twenty Years After Communism: The Politics of Memory and Commemoration and Post-Communism from Within: Social Justice, Mobilization, and Hegemony.

Esra Özyürek is an Associate Professor and Chair for Contemporary Turkish Studies at the European Institute, London School of Economics.

The LSE European Institute (@LSEEI) is a centre for research and graduate teaching on the processes of integration and fragmentation within Europe. In the most recent national Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) the Institute was ranked first for research in its sector.

Twitter Hashtag for this event: #LSEEurope

Podcast 

A podcast of this event is available to download from The New Left and the New Right: continuity, rupture and the politics of emotion in Europe.