ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts of the concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book aims at drawing attention to various dimensions which tend to be neglected by proponents of analytically simplified and normatively loaded account of political compromise. It demonstrates that political compromise not only delegitimizes certain positions but may cause 'watering down' of others and, subsequently to an increasing disenchantment with entire political system. The watering down of positions, weakening of parties and growing disillusion with politics may fade as scientific knowledge increases and points to the ineluctable need to 'get realistic'. Populist politics may or may not indicate a sea change in international politics. As Didi Kuo and Nolan McCarty have aptly demonstrated, political polarization and uncompromising politics have been on the rise throughout the United States for decades. The same would seem to be true with regards to the right wing populists changing the political spectrum in Europe.
