The rise of populism has rattled the global political establishment. Brexit came as a shock, as did the victory of Donald Trump. Much head-scratching has resulted as leaders seek to work out why large chunks of their electorates are so cross.
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The answer seems pretty simple. Populism is the result of economic failure. The 10 years since the financial crisis have shown that the system of economic governance which has held sway for the past four decades is broken. Some call this approach neoliberalism. Perhaps a better description would be unpopulism.Unpopulism meant tilting the balance of power in the workplace in favour of management and treating people like wage slaves. Unpopulism was rigged to ensure that the fruits of growth went to the few not to the many. Unpopulism decreed that those responsible for the global financial crisis got away with it while those who were innocent bore the brunt of austerity.
2017 Davos says: The 99% should just try harder.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @03:53PM (4 children)
Don't fool yourself. Donald Grump conforms to a long tradition of populism. In fact, authoritarian populism that ends up in hard-right policies lead by a cult-of-personality is probably the most common form of populism. Practically every african dictator followed that model. Ferdinand Marcos in the phillipines is another example. And of course Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot and Mao.
(Score: 2) by sgleysti on Wednesday March 29 2017, @04:12PM (2 children)
Sure, but I don't count him a populist because I don't have confidence that he will do anything that substantially benefits the majority of American citizens.
In other words, kleptocracy is not populism, regardless of one's rhetoric.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @05:26PM (1 child)
Then your definition of "populist" is a personal definition disconnected from all common usage and thus of little use in communicating meaning to anyone else.
(Score: 2) by sgleysti on Wednesday March 29 2017, @05:51PM
As is common in these kinds of discussions, you and I were working from two different valid definitions, both of which are contained in the following linked article:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/populism [britannica.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29 2017, @07:13PM
Stalin
Stalin was not exactly a populist. Stalin was Stalin. Putin is more of a populist than Stalin ever was. Stalin only cared about himself and the rest were disposable. He could have cared less about his popularity as long as everyone feared him. Trotsky, on the other hand, was a populist that opposed Stalin and ended up with an ice pick to the brain for his efforts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Trotsky [wikipedia.org]
The bottom line is Stalin directly murdered 10s of millions through his actions. When he took "direct control" over the army in WWII, Soviet Union almost collapsed. The guy is more of Roman Emperor Nero than of a populist.