Much has been made of the rise of populism in recent years and the threat it poses to liberal democracy.
My view is that liberal critics of populism, standing on their heads, get it wrong. If made to stand on their feet, they’d have to admit that populism actually represents the failure of liberal democracy.
Populism has experienced a resurgence of late—in Hungary, Britain, France, Turkey, the United States, and elsewhere—especially the form of populism variously characterized as right-wing, nationalist, or authoritarian. It has attracted increasing support and achieved notable political victories within the institutions and procedures of liberal democracy.
The problem is that liberal democracy has failed to confront, much less solve, the problems that have led to the rise of populism in the first place.
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Consider, for example, the history of populism in the United States. The three notable periods—in the late nineteenth century (with the rise…
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