The crisis within democratic systems is not a new phenomenon. Scholars have long recognised and debated its existence in political and institutional spheres. This runs in parallel with the rise and establishment of different forms of populism in a number of European countries and the growth in political space for nationalist parties, sometimes related to ideas around a pre-eminent role of the State in managing social and economic issues.
This research of ADAPT (Association for International and Comparative Studies in Labour and Industrial Relation) focuses on the state of health of industrial democracy today, looking at the crisis of the Fordist paradigm and of its industrial relations structure, but at the same time goes deeper into the role that industrial democracy had, and could have today, as a barrier to populism and nationalism. Furthermore, the research analyses how trade unions are now taking action in several countries in order to limit populist and nationalist tendencies inside their organisations.