The article is devoted to comparative political analysis of environmentalist political parties and movements in the member states of the European Union. The authors study European greens with reference to the new wave of left-wing populism that originated in 2010s, and analyze the main reasons for the growing influence of ecological and left-populist parties and movements in European societies. Case studies of a number of EU member states demonstrate close and multidimensional interdependence between the green and populist discourses. The authors outline the key factors that determine this interrelation and conclude that a general left-green discourse is emerging, based on a common commitment of the corresponding political parties and movements, as well as ecological non-governmental organizations, to a post-industrial, socio-ecological approach to world development. Moreover, this discourse is influenced by the COVID 19 pandemic, which dealt a huge blow to the global and most national economies and, most importantly, to vulnerable social groups. The current “corona crisis” will inevitably deepen the social inequality, which has always served as a breeding ground for populism. The closest example is the rise of populist movements, such as Syriza (Greece) and Podemos (Spain) in the aftermath of the 2008 international financial crisis. The post-crisis reality is likely to be marked by an increasing demand for socially oriented ecologism, with the left-green responding to this request. Therefore, one can expect a new wave of populism, exploiting the inability of many governments to provide effective response to the pandemic. This new wave is likely to be characterized by the convergence of eco-social discourse with left-wing populist and even left-wing radical discourse driven by a common commitment to post-capitalism. The crisis is also likely to attract attention of wider segments of population to global problems, including social and ecological ones. This, in turn, is likely to give an impetus to new models of development, such as “responsible development”, based on the orientation toward non-material production and consumption, intellectual and creative resources, and the use of nature-friendly technologies.

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The problem of divided societies and divisions in societies acquires special significance against the background of growing socio-political tensions in the internal and external political dimensions around the world. The West is ceasing to be an area of predominant tranquility and wellbeing. In recent years, in European societies a trend of increasing divisions has also emerged. The article analyzes old and new socio-political divisions (cleavages) within the Portuguese society. The choice of Portugal as a case study is due to the combination of several factors: the memory of the Carnation Revolution, the attitude towards the European project, the imperial past, Catholicism/secularism, and the historical legacy of the Salazar dictatorship. The theoretical and methodological framework of the study is based on the use of the concept of divided societies and constructivism as the main epistemological tools, while the country studies analysis is also applied. The authors attempt not only to identify the basic socio-cultural divisions in the contemporary Portuguese society, but also answer the question of whether it is possible to speak of a divided society in relation to the Portuguese case. The emphasis is placed on the peculiarities of Portugal’s historical path as a post-imperial state whose specificity is largely due, first, to the heritage of the Portuguese maritime empire, and, second, to the legacy of the 1974 Carnation Revolution. The key cleavages that are at the center of the analysis are the legacy of the Carnation Revolution, the European project, the imperial legacy, the religious configuration, and the Salazar heritage. The conclusion is that the Portuguese society has managed to avoid the most negative scenario of the development of the situation and has a chance of consolidation.

The paper deals with the views of a Russian political philosopher A. S. Panarin (1940 – 2003) on the West, the East, modernity, post-modernity, globalization, western liberalism and possible alternatives to the “end of history”, declared by an American politologist F. Fukuyama. Panarin analyzed the basic principles of the Western civilization and criticized the political culture of the West for its technocratic individualistic ultra-activism and the desire to spread westernization around the world. He saw the alternative to the American unipolar world in the Eastern tradition, as well as in the social ideas of justice and solidarity. The authors have made an attempt to integrate Panarin’s legacy into the continental European paradigm of political philosophy, comparing his views with the ideas of such European conservative thinkers and of the western New Left.