The World Without Institutions: Democratic Disillusionment | Buffett Conversation with Lilith Verstrynge

Watch the recording of our Buffett conversation with Lilith Verstrynge and Iza Ding about democratic disillusionment and populist insurgencies, examining how political movements respond when traditional institutions lose the confidence of citizens. Ding and Verstrynge explored why left populist movements do — or don’t — create viable political parties and consider the role of multilateral organizations such as the European Union amid a waning rules-based international order. 

Lilith Verstrynge is a former member of Spain’s Congress of Deputies and Spain’s former Secretary of State for the 2030 Agenda. As parliamentarian, Verstrynge worked to connect domestic policymaking with left-wing social movements and the United Nations’ sustainable development goals. Iza Ding is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University's Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences. 

Key insights:

• “Everything started with the economic crisis of 2008, which deeply impacted the southern regions of Europe. In 2008, Spain had a socialist government that started to enforce evictions very quickly as economic conditions worsened, which was incredibly shocking to our communities. A few years later, at the height of the economic crisis in 2011, widespread inequality sparked an explosion of political activity that gave rise to the 15M movement. There were a lot of young people coming to the main squares and camping; it was very similar to Occupy. I decided to go because I felt this was a generational crisis. It was hard to talk about politics and religion after the dictatorship, but suddenly people were asking for real democracy, challenging the austerity measures introduced by the EU, and saying things like 'we are not anti-system; the system is anti-us.’”

• “We had to speak to a lot of different people and groups. One way we sought to reach them was by moving away from political speeches and rhetoric and rejecting the traditional left-right political divide. Rather, we talked about bottom and top, or the people versus the political and economic elite. Most of us were leftists, but not all; we learned to work together with people who had differing views. I thought it was important not to be a purist in our philosophical and political thoughts; I was mainly focused on representing the people and representing them well. For us, populism was the commitment to representing our country, which meant pluralism. Something that we really wanted to convey to people is that if you don't do politics, others will do politics for you.”  

• “Politics is not only about being against things. You also need to propose things. You have to ask why the youth are protesting in France, or why people are protesting the cost of living in Spain. It’s because they want to be able to envision a future. As such, political parties have to respond by proposing solutions, while also defending fundamental rights. I think the obsession with combating fascism has become a bit of a consuming idea that has distracted the left from being able to aptly respond to the material needs of the people.”