Steven M. Gillon, a professor of history at the University of Oklahoma, is the Scholar-in-Residence at HISTORY. Today you have this pedagogy called global populism studies. Populist leaders have been present in Latin America’s political landscapes, and will continued to be a staple of the political system until something changes. In some ways, they already have. Perhaps the most common was anti-establishment populism, which pits “the people” against the political elites and the mainstream parties they represent. Populism has often been linked to the spread of democracy, bot… We want to hear what you think about this article. His victory underscored that the populist tradition remained as strong in the 21st century as it had been in the 19th. In May, it convened the New Populism … All Rights Reserved. The Situation. “The environment is going to become a very salient dimension of contestation,” Halikiopoulou said, noting that though political fragmentation across Europe led to an uptick in support for far-right populist parties, it also resulted in a surge for green parties in countries such as Germany and France. The populist argument was that “you have a liberal elite that has everything to gain from letting in lots of immigrants,” Fieschi said. They lashed out at those groups—bankers, Jews, communists and Washington bureaucrats—who they blamed for the Depression. And even if voters do become dissatisfied with populist parties, Fieschi said, it doesn’t mean a return to the politics of the early 2000s. Every objective analysis of the new legislation has found that it overwhelmingly benefits wealthy people and corporations—and adds more than $1 trillion to the national debt—but Trump sold the tax cut as a “Christmas gift” to average, middle-class Americans. Despite their differences, each of these leaders—FDR, Truman and Reagan—used populist appeals to build coalitions and to achieve meaningful reform. ... as evidenced by the Biden campaign’s “Made in America” plan. Reserved. In Defense of Populism Protest and American Democracy Donald T. Critchlow. In France, the far-right National Front advanced to the runoff of the 2002 presidential election (an achievement the party, which has since been renamed the National Rally, replicated in 2017). Contemporary populists share the objectives of their historical predecessors in Latin America and Europe. Long’s message also had special appeal to middle-class Americans who had enjoyed a degree of independence and autonomy in the past, but who now felt threatened by the many changes around them. If the 2010s were the years in which predominantly far-right, populist parties permeated the political mainstream, then the 2020s will be when voters “are going to see the consequences of that,” Daphne Halikiopoulou, an associate professor of comparative politics at the University of Reading, in England, told me. In South America, populism has been most associated with the left. Separate and Unequal: The Kerner Commission and the Unraveling of American Liberalism. Read: The “identitarians” are the successors to Europe’s far right, Whereas much of the past decade revolved around arguments over issues of immigration and sovereignty, the 2020s could be dominated by a new, more pressing narrative: climate change. Populism has remained a significant force in Latin America. To explain how a small group could attain so much power, populists often turned to conspiracy theories. 4:00 AM. Elsewhere, populist parties have already made their impact—if not through passing legislation at the head of government, then by applying pressure in opposition. What the 2010s did, however, was give populist parties the ecosystem they needed to thrive—due to, among other things, the consequences of the 2008 global financial crash and the digital revolution. One would be hard-pressed to find a region of the world that populism didn’t touch in the 2010s. Populism Today. The billionaire businessman sold himself as the savior of the “forgotten American,” even though most of his policy proposals embraced traditional conservative thinking. Joseph McCarthy's brand of populism proved much darker than, say, Ronald Reagan's. Some countries experienced a socioeconomic version, pitting the working class against Big … When government failed to follow the will of the people, they suggested, it was because powerful interests had intervened and corrupted the institutions of government. It isn’t an act of God. When I asked Fieschi and Halikiopoulou whether this decade could see voters become as disillusioned with populist parties as they became with their more mainstream counterparts in the past one, both said it was possible—but unlikely, at least in the short term. Wallace’s anti-establishment populism appealed to many northern Democrats angry over the party’s association with Vietnam war protests and racial integration. The decade brought us the election of Donald Trump in the United States and the Brexit vote in Britain. Others saw a cultural form thrive, focusing on issues of national identity, immigration, and race (as was the case in Germany and India). Senator Joseph McCarthy, best known for his wide-ranging witch hunt to root out communism in postwar America, fomented fear and disapproval of elites. The origins of populism are often traced to the late nineteenth century, when movements calling themselves populist arose in both the United States and the Russian Empire. ... growing wealth disparities and … A political op-ed You’re probably not old enough to remember Barry Goldwater’s presidential race, in 1964. They have a group at Stanford. Latin America’s long experience with populism offers some bracing warnings to other countries currently flirting with such politics. Populism is a kind of political philosophy, unusual in that it may (arguably) describe many more specific philosophies, right-wing, left-wing, and neither, including democracy, socialism, labor parties, libertarianism, and even some forms of fascism!. In response, farmers banded together, organized their own political party and advocated for federal intervention to regulate the railroads and inflate the money supply. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. By 2018, as many as 20 populist leaders held executive office around the world. TheAtlantic.com Copyright (c) 2020 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. Since the days of FDR, Democrats articulated a message of economic populism, railing against big business, Wall Street and the wealthy for failing to understand the economic plight of average Americans. It’s not going anywhere. To continue, please click the box below to let us know you're not a robot. All Rights Trump’s populism, which included a strange alchemy of narcissism and megalomania, shocked the political establishment. And he has used it to advocate for policies—like his massive tax cut—that do little to benefit the “forgotten” Americans he claims to represent. © 2020 A&E Television Networks, LLC. Populists disagreed about the best strategy for addressing their grievances, but they all shared a common worldview. Foto: Pexels. In Spain, there is the Podemos party, and in … In 1936, President Franklin Roosevelt borrowed from the populist playbook when he defended his ambitious New Deal agenda by attacking the “unjust concentration of wealth and economic power.” He assailed the “economic royalists” who took “other people’s money” to impose a “new industrial dictatorship.” The forces of “organized money are unanimous in their hate for me,” he told a cheering crowd in New York’s Madison Square Garden, “and I welcome their hatred.”, Harry Truman tied himself to Roosevelt’s legacy, peppering his speeches with references to “Republican gluttons of privilege,” who had “stuck a pitchfork in the farmer’s back” and “begun to nail the American consumer to the wall with spikes of greed.” His speeches pictured politics as a struggle between the “people,” represented by the Democrats, and the “special interests,” represented by Republicans. Even if the core issue changes, though, the test to liberal democracy will remain: Across Europe, populist leaders have displayed their willingness to tread over democratic institutions in order to see their political agendas realized—from Viktor Orbán’s crackdowns on academic and press freedom in Hungary to the right-wing populist Law and Justice party’s efforts to overhaul the state media and judiciary in Poland. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. As the historian Richard Hofstadter has noted, the agrarian uprising also exposed a dark side to populism: a penchant for oversimplifying problems and scapegoating “elites,” which in this case included Jewish bankers and legitimate businessmen. A pro-Brexit protester, wearing a yellow vest and a mask depicting President Donald Trump, demonstrates in London. Mudde and Rovira Kaltwasser argue that populism is a modern phenomenon. “Climate policy and the Green New Deal ... is being depicted as the next way for the elite to screw over ordinary people.”. The New Populism arises from the stark truth about today’s America: Too few people control too much money and power, and they’re using that control to rig the rules to protect and extend their privileges. Why Populism in America is a Double-Edged Sword. In 1896, Republicans led by William McKinley crushed populists’ electoral hopes, but 20th-century progressive politicians would adopt their style and implement much of their agenda. Stratfor Contributor. In France, the National Rally, still buoyant after its European Parliament victory last spring, is setting its sights on consolidating local support through the country’s upcoming municipal elections. So far, however, Trump has more in common with the likes of Huey Long, Joseph McCarthy and George Wallace than he does with Franklin Roosevelt or Ronald Reagan. Classical populism, it seems, did not play well in America, even among voters pressed by hard times. It combines elements of the left and the right, opposing large business and financial interests but also frequently being … During the 1930s, Huey Long, a charismatic, ambitious and shrewd politician who had won election to the Senate in 1932, fashioned himself as a modern-day Robin Hood. They’re all over Europe. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. In the 2020s, we will likely see many of the same characters who defined the previous decade remain at the fore. Contact us We've detected unusual activity from your computer network. Populism divides the world into an “us vs. them” dichotomy and uses this divide to create an incredibly loyal political base. Look at what the populists in the 1890s complained about — the concentration of wealth, degradation of working people, monopolies everywhere you looked, and political corruption that went hand in hand with the concentration of wealth. For example, Trump won by a 2-1 margin those voters who claimed that immigration was the most important problem facing the nation. Two years after Trump took office, populism has reached more countries. His rhetoric shares the same passion, outrage and sense of grievance that animated the original populists. A Populism Deferred. 224 pages | 6 x 9 | 1 table Cloth Nov 2020 | ISBN 9780812252767 | $29.95a | Outside the Americas £23.99 Ebook editions are available from selected online vendors View table of contents and excerpt "Populism has become a dirty word—the dirty word—in politics, in America and around the world. And all of them use the definition of populism that Hofstadter and his colleagues came up with in the 1950s: that populism is a generic term for mass movements of working-class people that exhibit these certain pathologies. For instance, many politicians on the left in Latin America today, such as the current Presidents of Brazil and Chile, are not populists. Enthusiastic crowds shouted, “Give ’em hell, Harry!” Truman responded, “I don’t give ’em hell. Populism took many (often overlapping) forms in the 2010s. Populism has its roots in the grassroots formation of the People's and Populist parties in the late 1800s. Populism, political program or movement that champions, or claims to champion, the common person, by contrast with a real or perceived elite. “We’ve become much more impatient; we don’t understand why things aren’t always just a click away. He especially denounced the ‘egg-sucking phony liberals’ who defended ‘communists and queers.’ (Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images), George Wallace, the pugnacious Alabama governor who once stood in the schoolhouse door to prevent integration of his state’s flagship university, adopted most of McCarthy’s language and tactics when he ran for president on a third-party ticket in 1968. The political movement defined democracies around the globe in the 2010s. Populism: America’s radical tradition. In Latin America, Populism Is Alive and Well. Instead of calling for greater government power to protect individual rights, Reagan’s attacked the government for limiting economic opportunity. History of Populism . Most of all, Trump tapped into the fears of many white voters living in declining industrial towns and rural areas who worried that cultural change and the influx of new immigrants were eroding old norms and threatened their status in society. This isn’t an accident. It witnessed the rise of the Alternative for Germany—the first far-right party to enter the country’s national parliament in decades—as well as the ascent of populist parties in countries such as Austria, Brazil, Italy, India, Indonesia, and Poland. Reagan turned his predecessors’ populist message on its head. But it, too, could have an upside. Italy’s Matteo Salvini, the leader of the far-right and nativist League party, has pledged to return to government as prime minister—and, if successful, to forge alliances with like-minded leaders, including Johnson and Trump. Roosevelt and Truman used populism to expand government power, but in the 1980s Republican President Ronald Reagan employed the same approach to dismantle regulations and limit federal power. While the former contributed to greater inequality and the rejection of mainstream parties that were perceived to be perpetuating it, the latter resulted in the “transformation of … everyday life,” Catherine Fieschi, the executive director of the London-based consultancy Counterpoint and the author of Populocracy: The Tyranny of Authenticity and the Rise of Populism, told me. During the Red Scare following World War II, McCarthy boasted he had proof that communist spies had infiltrated the federal government. As populist parties gain a stronger foothold, the 2020s could see more of the same. Economic hardship for America’s farmers during the Civil War occured because of the government’s issue of almost $500 million dollars in paper money known as greenbacks. In Latin America, there was Venezuela's late President Chávez. He has authored numerous books on American history, including the recent Separate and Unequal: The Kerner Commission and the Unraveling of American Liberalism, (Basic, 2018). The Populist party platform of 1892 stated bluntly that “a vast conspiracy against mankind has been organized on two continents,” which, if “not met and overthrown at once,” would lead “to the destruction of civilization, or the establishment of an absolute despotism.” In the populist mind, there were two groups: the people and the special interests. In this way, populist arguments about climate change resemble those about immigration. In 2016, Donald Trump rode a unique wave of populist sentiment into the White House. Reagan meeting some of his supporters while campaigning for president, 1964. Long planned to challenge FDR for the presidency in 1936, but an assassin ended those dreams, and his movement died with him. (Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images). This economy does not work for working people. If Amazon Prime can do it, why can’t [the government] revamp the benefit system more quickly?”. He focused his populist ire on immigrants, calling them rapists and drug dealers, before moving on to Muslims, who he wanted banned from entering the United States. Goldwater was the Republican nominee for the 1964 election, running against incumbent Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson. By the 1980s, politicians in both parties routinely declared themselves populists, but they pursued conflicting agendas and identified different enemies. Bloomberg Need help? And while McKinley's successes in the industrial states were only logical, far more revealing was what happened in America's burgeoning cities and resource-rich hills, home to the very laborers and miners Bryan claimed to represent. In Britain, the 2016 vote to leave the European Union—and the political fallout it caused—is likely to be fulfilled at the end of January, following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s resounding victory in last month’s general election. According to Dr. Cynthia J. Arnson, populism emerges when there are crises of representation. Independence Party was on the ascent. Trump has shown no signs of abandoning his populist posturing as president. These parties will have to contend with figures such as Trump and populist parties in Europe, which have expressed open skepticism about climate change, branding it an elitist hoax or, at the least, an issue for which the establishment has promoted policies that disproportionately harm the poor. The nature of the rise in populist rhetoric is brought into focus when the size of affected countries is considered. By 1950, McCarthy dominated headlines and was the most feared man in America. And, like them, his version oversimplifies problems and demonizes opponents. Trump clearly sees himself as a man of the people, but he and his allies should be aware that throughout American history populism has been a double-edged sword: While it has inspired great political-reform movements, it has also been manipulated by demagogues to promote fear, divide the nation and infringe on individual rights. The authoritarian rule and populism in Latin America today. Reagan also forged a new relationship between protestant fundamentalism and the Republican Party, paving the way for the GOP to assume a new role: as guardians of public morality. His “Share Our Wealth” plan promised to “soak” the rich and make “every man a king.” Long’s impractical scheme appealed to the aspirations of poor people during the Great Depression, to their resentment of the rich and to their disappointment with Roosevelt’s New Deal efforts. “I have here in my hand,” he blustered, “a list of names that were known to the secretary of state and who nevertheless are still working and shaping the policy of the State Department.” McCarthy called Dean Acheson, Truman’s secretary of state who promoted the formation of NATO, a “pompous diplomat in striped pants, with a phony British accent.” He denounced the “egg-sucking phony liberals” who defended “communists and queers.” In focusing on liberal thinkers, homosexuals and others who did not fit with Americans’ traditional view of themselves, McCarthy exploited the nation’s unease with its new global stature and its discomfort with alien ideas and lifestyles. These forms are likely to continue into the new decade, though the main issue at play will probably shift from immigration to climate change, populist promises will become policy, and democratic institutions will be put even further to the test. During that same period, Britain’s U.K. Countless other populist leaders already held power in countries such as Bolivia, Israel, and Hungary. I just tell the truth and they think it’s hell.”. William Jennings Bryan, the most revered populist leader of his age, declared that the money issue represented a clash between “the common people” and “the encroachments of organized wealth.”, William Jennings Bryan, Democratic Presidential nominee, delivering a campaign speech in 1910. At its simplest, populism is the belief that government policies should be determined by the will of the masses, rather than any elite. The populist tradition is nearly as old as the republic itself, but it was a farmers’ revolt in the late 19th century that broadened its appeal and codified a language and style of politics that would endure long after the formal movement ended. "Populism has become a meme," says Roger Hickey, who co-directs the progressive Campaign for America's Future. Things got so bad that corn farmers in Kansas burned their crops for fuel because corn was cheaper than coal. After the social turmoil of the 1960s, Republicans built a powerful political base using a language of cultural populism, charging that Hollywood producers, intellectuals and liberals were out of touch with the cultural values of mainstream Americans. It was a pitch that revealed the enduring power of populism in American politics. One survey showed that more than half the nation shared Wallace’s view that “liberals, intellectuals and long-hairs have run the country for too long.”. (Credit: Bettmann Archive/Getty Images). Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy proved the most dangerous populist demagogue of the 20th century. History Reads features the work of prominent authors and historians. Trump’s surprising victory resulted from the pent-up anger of a white working class that believed the traditional parties had failed to respond to their legitimate economic grievances. They romanticized “the people,” convinced that all Americans embraced the same agenda and spoke with one voice. Populism is a political phenomenon. Before his By María Belén Camacho Sequeira - International Relations degree student. “In this present crisis,” Reagan said in his inaugural address, “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” After delivering on his promises of deep tax cuts and looser regulations, Reagan rejoiced: “The people have been heard,” he said. In the closing days of 2017, President Donald Trump scored his sole major legislative victory by pushing through Congress a sweeping tax cut. Instead of tapping into populism’s powerful language and rich tradition to inspire and motivate people to be part of a movement that is larger than themselves, he has used it to demonize opponents and manipulate public fear for personal aggrandizement. Populism was a social and political movement of the people and began under the economic hardship that was being felt by American farmers during and after the Civil War. Like most populists, Trump divided the nation into two groups: “real” Americans who supported him, and a disgraced economic and cultural elite who backed his opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Though this populist phenomenon rose to international consciousness in the past decade, its roots in fact stretch back further. In its essence, it is a politics of anger, even rage, born of the frustration of the many against the indifference and arrogance of the few. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has signaled that he will press forward with his quest to further his Hindu-nationalist agenda—including defending his contentious Citizenship Amendment Act, which has spurred weeks of protests. Eatwell noted that although the actual term populism parallels that of the Populares who were active in the Roman Republic, these and other pre-modern groups "did not develop a truly populist ideology." Some countries experienced a socioeconomic version, pitting the working class against Big Business and cosmopolitan elites regarded as benefiting from the international capitalist system (as seen in places such as France and the United States). Joseph McCarthy's brand of populism proved much darker than, say, Ronald Reagan's. Wallace rose in the polls by catering to the resentments of his followers: “If a demonstrator ever lays down in front of my car,” Wallace told large and enthusiastic crowds, “it’ll be the last car he’ll ever lay down in front of.” Wallace’s appeal was blatantly racist and anti-intellectual. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! A combination of forces had conspired against farmers: declining prices for their crops, rising debt and a railroad monopoly that controlled the cost of shipping to the growing cities on the East Coast. As AEI’s Nicholas Eberstadt has shown, America’s male population is leaving the labor force in record numbers. Populism took many (often overlapping) forms in the 2010s. ... Too many accounts of populism today portray Donald Trump and his one-time svengali Steve Bannon as an unprecedented force in American politics. As for the future of populism, Frank hopes to see a resurgence. Clinton won by 11 points among voters who ranked the economy as the top issue. “We need populism today more than ever. 30 Jul, 2020. Many demagogues, however, have employed the same style of politics for less noble objectives. Populist parties can be anywhere on the political spectrum. “It’s going to be a very long-term thing to experience the disillusionment from a government that has failed you,” Halikiopoulou said. In Austria, the right-wing Freedom Party served in a governing coalition from 2000 to 2005. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com. But it’s a shining example of the constant force of populism in American politics. Learn more about the Populist Movement’s origin and history in this article. (2) The catalyst to our current populism is the failure of The Third Way in the West and in Latin America, due to the dismissal of political struggle and participation. But as Brooks points out, populism has a distinctive and long history in America, where it’s “not necessarily just a right-wing phenomenon; it can be a left-wing phenomenon as well.” Populist Movement, in U.S. history, the politically oriented coalition of agrarian reformers in the Midwest and South that advocated a wide range of economic and political legislation in the late 19th century. Today’s populism, like its predecessor, has gotten its fair share of bad press coverage. The vast impersonal forces of urbanization and industrialization that farmers confronted in the 1890s were just as perplexing to them as globalization, growing wealth disparities and massive immigration are to many Americans today. Democracy Donald T. Critchlow, which included a strange alchemy of narcissism and megalomania, shocked political! That all Americans embraced the same agenda and spoke with one voice populist demagogue the. 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