Uploaded September 2023 | Updated September 2026, 11 hours ago

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Since the global economic and financial crisis of 2008-2009, democracies have experienced, after several decades of relative stability, a return of persistent mass protests and social movements. In 2022, more than 12000 protests took place worldwide over the rising cost of living and lack of access to basic goods. In the European Union, since 2022, more than 3000 public protests sparked over grievances related to inflation and low salaries. France and Germany witnessed the highest number of such protests. By July 2023, nearly every EU country had witnessed economic crisis-related protests. Such protests have expressed citizens' discontent with the way governments tackle serious economic problems. Existing economic forecasts suggest that this trend will continue. A combination of inflation, slower growth or even recession, fiscal tightening and a possible rise in unemployment could cause more severe effects on many citizens in democratic countries as well as the rest of the world.

This social discontent is part of what is broadly considered a crisis of democracy that has affected most democratic governments around the world, albeit to varying degrees, with some democracies muddling through, others regressing and a few others transforming into authoritarian regimes, according to various democracy rankings (V-DEM, Freedom House, EIU). Populist political leaders who have exploited popular discontent – among other things, with economic governance – to consolidate their power and undermine the checks and balances of a democratic system, have played a major role in this decline. Ongoing economic hardship exacerbates citizens' perception, exploited by populists, that democratic governments cannot deliver what people need.

Economic hardship alone is not sufficient to cause massive social unrest. People protest when they consider that their governments bear a serious responsibility for the crisis and/or when the government response is perceived as potentially ineffective and deeply unfair. Any measures adopted by the EU and its Member States to withstand economic difficulties need to convince the public of their effectiveness and fairness. Acting in consultation and agreement with multiple stakeholders, particularly social actors, is a way to reinforce the legitimacy of what would otherwise be unpopular measures. Preventing misinformation driven either by internal illiberal forces and/or by external enemies is crucial in this context. According to Stefan Lehne, a researcher from Carnegie Europe, in order to increase the EU's resilience to future crises, 'building trust among member states and toward the EU institutions must be an ongoing concern'.

🔎 Read more on the economic crisis as an accelerator for social instability in democracies in our publication:
Future Shocks 2023: Anticipating and weathering the next storms: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/EPRS_STU(2023)751428


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CONTENT:
00:00 The scale of protests
00:25 The protests in the EU
01:06 Eroding democracy
01:51 Consolidating democracy
02:26 The future of protest
03:15 The EU response to protests
04:12 Outro