Populism is on the rise. Across the world, politicians and political parties are becoming increasingly populist.
Today, I want define populism. We’ll discuss what populism means, think about some examples of populism (both left-wing and right-wing), and then discuss whether populism is a negative thing!
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Vocabulary
- Populism (Noun): A political approach that claims to represent ordinary people against a corrupt elite.
- Populism has gained popularity in recent years as more people feel disillusioned with traditional political parties.
- Elite (Noun): A group of people seen as having the most power or influence in a society.
- The elite often control major decisions in politics and economics.
- Establishment (Noun): The ruling or influential group in society, such as politicians, media, or large organizations.
- Critics of the establishment argue that it prioritizes its own interests over those of ordinary citizens.
- Ideology (Noun): A set of beliefs or ideas that guides political, economic, or social systems.
- Socialism and conservatism are examples of ideologies
- Simplistic (Adjective): Treating complex issues as if they are much simpler than they really are.
- The politician’s simplistic explanation of the economic crisis failed to address its deeper causes.
- Complex (Adjective): Consisting of many interconnected parts; not simple.
- The global economy is a complex system
Politics on the Edge
I just finished reading the book “Politics on the Edge” by Rory Stewart. Stewart was a Conservative Party Member of Parliament (a politician) in the UK for about 10 years.
He was on the more moderate side of the party (at university he was a Labour party member and was a Liberal Democrat voter – the centrist party in the UK – before becoming a politician).
The book was extremely readable. Stewart has a smooth, engaging, and often amusing way of telling the story of his life in parliament.
While I have never been a supporter of the British Conservative Party, Rory Stewart seemed relatively likeable. He attempted to become Prime Minister in 2019 when Theresa May resigned but he was defeated by Boris Johnson.
While reading his book, one of the themes that kept coming to my mind was the growth of populism in the UK and around the world.
A large part of Stewart’s story revolved around Brexit – the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. He discussed the lying politicians, who were promising the British people impossible things to get elected and framing Brexit as something the was for “ordinary” British people.
Over the past decade or so, we have the seen the rise of populism, populist movements like Brexit, and populist leaders like Donald Trump, across the world.
Today, I’d like to explain and define populism!
It is a very important topic, that is probably relevant in your countries too. I’m also likely to annoy some listeners with this episode, as I’ll describe popular leaders (including the US president) as populists.
But hopefully, after listening, you’ll realise the populism is present in politics across the world. It doesn’t matter a political party is left wing, or right wing; if a politician is a racist or a progressive: they could be (and probably are) using elements of populism in their political campaigns.
Defining Populism
Populism is a term that appears in discussions about politics all the time, but it can be challenging to define clearly because it takes on different forms.
Populism is a political approach or style that claims to represent the interests and desires of “ordinary people” or “the common people” against the elite or establishment. Populist leaders and movements argue that society is divided into two main groups: the “people” and the “corrupt elite.”
Let’s take a deeper look at the features of populism.
Us Vs Them
Populism is built around the idea of “us versus them”, but who are the “people” and who are the “elites”?
“The people” are the honest, hardworking citizens of a country. They go to work every day, raise their families, pay taxes, and try their best to make a good life.
“The elite”, on the other hand, are seen as corrupt, selfish, and disconnected from ordinary citizens. What is difficult to often comprehend about populism is that “the elite” can refer to completely different groups.
In many countries, “the elite” are the super wealthy, the billionaires, and the large business owners. They are seen as having too much power, too much influence, and as exploiting ordinary people.
In other countries, “the elite” could refer to all politicians and people involved in making decisions. It could be the media, the newspapers, and the TV news channels. Or it could even be academics.
Think about the USA.
Donald Trump has just been elected again, and during his first election campaign in 2016 his main slogan was “drain the swamp.”
“Drain the swamp” meant he was going to clear out the elites and the establishment from Washington DC. He was going to remove the corrupt officials, the career politicians, and instead represent normal Americans.
However, Trump is a billionaire property developer that has spent his life exploiting “normal people.” His supporters include Elon Musk, the world’s richest person. Recently he has been supported by Mark Zuckerburg, owner of Facebook and Instagram.
In another context, these people would be “the elites.”
Simplistic Solutions to Complex Problems
Another key feature of populism is a simple solution to a complex problem.
Think about right now in the USA. There is an incredibly complex situation regarding immigration, illegal immigrants, and the various legal issues around this. For decades, politicians and governments have tried to solve this issue with money, experts, and policies.
Trump, however, has a simple solution. In 2016, it was “build a wall.” If there was a wall on the border, no one could get into the country illegally. A very simple solution to the difficult problem.
Trump’s supporters seemed to not care that it would incredibly expensive (Trump’s response was that he would get México to pay for the wall), did nothing for people already in the country, or that it would be impossible to completely secure.
This time, Trump has a different solution to the problem of illegal immigration – mass deportations. Another simple solution (kick everyone out) to a complex problem.
The book that I just read by Rory Stewart has elements of this too. He discussed the 2019 Conservative Party leadership race (where he attempted to become leader of the party and therefore Prime Minister).
Every candidate in the election, apart from Stewart, promised that Brexit would by completed by October 31st, 2019. Stewart complained that this was literally impossible – the only way it could be done would be to close parliament (illegal and undemocratic). It didn’t matter to any of the other candidates though. They continued to state that they guaranteed it would be completed, and that they would find a way.
Populism reduces complicated political, economic, or social issues to simple, easy-to-understand solutions. This is obviously popular with ordinary people.
Imagine there is an unemployment crisis in your country. The crisis is likely related to business conditions, inflation, social policies, demographic and skill challenges, education, and much more. It is not simple to solve.
A traditional conservative politician might say:
“We will reduce unemployment by creating tax incentives for businesses to grow and hire more workers.”
A traditional left-wing politician might say:
“We will tackle unemployment by investing in public infrastructure projects and increasing funding for social programs.”
These are not instant or simple solutions, but practical and realistic ways you could try to fix unemployment (they might not work, but they could).
How would a populist respond?
A left-wing populist might say:
“We will eliminate unemployment by taking back control from greedy corporations and guaranteeing jobs through a government-led program for the people.”
A right-wing populist might say:
“We will end unemployment by stopping immigration and putting our own citizens first in the job market.”
These are much quicker and simpler to understand solutions to the problem (stop immigration or guarantee public jobs).
Examples of Populists
Left Wing Populism
I think it would be better to describe populism as a political “style” rather than a fixed ideology. Unlike ideologies such as socialism, liberalism, or conservatism, populism does not have a consistent set of principles.
Populism is often present in left wing politics. Left-wing populism focuses on economic inequality and criticizes wealthy corporations or capitalists as the elite oppressors.
Examples include Bernie Sanders in the USA who blames big business and billionaires for the problems in the country, and quite a few left-wing political leaders in South America include populist elements in their politics.
In left-wing populism, the elites are the wealthy, the business owners, and the corporations.
In 2015, I joined the UK Labour party to vote for the left-wing candidate Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn was not a full populist – there are lots of articles online discussing this topic – but he definitely appealed to populist sentiments and had some populist elements in his politics.
If you don’t know, Jeremy Corbyn was a long time Labour MP, pacifist and left-wing peace activist. He was one of the most left-wing members of the Labour party, and was only nominated to be Labour leader because no one thought he would win.
However, in the Labour party leadership election, Corbyn won easily because he was different, and he grew the Labour party to be one of the biggest political parties in Europe.
I actually read an interesting article in the past that argued that Corbyn wasn’t a populist, but he was selected as the leader of a populist movement by a group of people who wanted a populist leader.
I think this is true – I was fed up with British politics being controlled by the same people and wanted someone different, who cared about the world, to be elected, so I joined the Labour party. I voted because I thought Corbyn was a simple solution to complex problem (even though he never promised these solutions).
Right Wing Populism
In recent years right wing populist have undoubtedly been higher-profile and more successful. Right-wing populism often emphasises issues like immigration, national identity, and protecting the national culture.
An article from Foreign policy in 2019 stated that every European country (apart from Ireland, Malta, and Portugal) had populist politicians in their parliaments (I think now every country has them).
The Freedom Party in Austria, Marine Le Pen in France, AfD in Germany, Brothers of Italy, Party for Freedom in the Netherlands, Law and Justice in Poland, the Reform Party in the UK: there are so many examples of right-wing populism in Europe right now.
Basically, modern politics across the world has been dominated by populism. Whether the political party if left-wing or right-wing, they are probably using elements of populism.
They are campaigning against a corrupt elite, they are promising a quick and simple solution, and they are against the current establishment. Populists claim to represent the ordinary people against the elites who ignore them.
In Europe and North America, populists tend to be on the right of the political spectrum. They focus on cultural and social issues – most famously immigration.
Brexit in the UK was a complex political and economic question about the future of the UK, but populist politicians like Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson turned it into a simple question of who controls the UK’s borders (most British people didn’t understand the economic side of Brexit because no politicians talked about it).
Customs Unions, WTO trade conditions, tariffs, the Good Friday agreement in Northern Ireland: these are really challenging concepts and terms for 99% of people, but they were a key part of Brexit. However, the Brexit campaigners didn’t mention any of these and instead said that Brexit would allow Britain to control its own borders, and its own trade, and its own politics.
In South America, populism is more commonly associated with left-wing leaders who focus on the economy – like Evo Morales in Bolivia. The most famous example is Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, who framed himself as against the traditional establishment in the country (and also against the USA), and promised to use the country’s oil wealth to make ordinary Venezuelan’s lives better.
You can also find left-wing populist movements in European countries like Spain and Greece.
Is Populism a Bad Thing?
So, I’ve talked about populism, discussed its characteristics, and probably annoyed some of my listeners by mentioning political parties or movements that they support.
Is populism a bad thing?
I think most people today associate populism with far-right politics. However, populism is a style that can apply to any type of politics. I also don’t think it is an inherently bad thing. It depends on how it is being used.
For example, there are some elements of populism that I think are potentially positive.
Giving ordinary people a voice, and getting them involved in politics, is a good thing. Issues like economic inequality and corruption are often highlighted by populist parties – this is also good.
The Prime Minister of the UK when Brexit occurred was David Cameron, who went to the famous Eton School. His cabinet (the people in charge of government departments) was filled with people he went to school with, and his personal advisors also mainly went to Eton school. It is important to point this kind of “establishment” out.
Businesses, the mega-wealthy, and corporations have also had too much of an influence in politics. The fact that populism highlights these issues is not bad.
However, I also think there are many negative things about populism.
Complex problems are often oversimplified by populist politicians. You can’t solve unemployment by closing the border or by taking control of companies. These are appealing solutions, but how often do they actually work?
Populism also divides people.
Families were divided over Brexit in the UK. Trump supporters and Harris supporters in the US seemed to hate each other. I’m sure the same is true in other countries.
And, finally, populism can lead to authoritarianism. The media could be considered part of the “elites”, so they may be targeted. Then the courts. Then other politicians.
Eventually, in the most extreme cases, the populist leader may become a dictator, justifying their rule because they are the only true representative of the people and all other political parties are “corrupt elites.”
Final Thought
What do you think?
Hopefully, after listening to this episode you understand populism a little better. I talked about the definition of populism, gave some examples, and questioned whether it is a good or bad thing.
I even mentioned how I joined the British Labour party to select Jeremy Corbyn as leader (Corbyn wasn’t really a full populist, but he benefited a lot from populist feelings among his voters – like me).
At the moment in the UK, most of the populist politicians are on the right-wing side of politics. The Reform Party performed well on an anti-immigration platform in the last election, and the Conservative party are still trying to decide what kind of party they will become.
How about in your country?
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