Jahangir's World Times First Comprehensive Magazine for students/teachers of competitive exams and general readers as well.
After Brexit and Donald Trump’s election as the US president, the world has been anxiously awaiting European elections where populist have been resurgent. In countries, like the Netherlands and France, populist leaders and their political parties have seen an unprecedented surge so much so that France, for the first time in its history, has witnessed the second round of the presidential elections without any of its traditional political parties in the race.
Populists are considered new and brave voices against the traditional ruling elites who are perceived as indifferent to the problems the ordinary people face. The supporters of such leaders believe that the system is not working properly, and has failed to deliver on its promises. They think that traditional parties and politicians don’t represent them and, more importantly, don’t care about them. The rise of populists, in essence, evinces a serious distrust in political institutions.
The opponents, on the other hand, see populist leaders as demagogues using public discontent to their own benefit. They assert that populism has increased the divisive behaviours, polarization in the society, violations of human rights and unfair access to education, employment and other economic and social resources.
The main aim of populism is to disturb the established political order for it ignores the political realities and also political compromises to achieve a solution. Its target is to challenge the status quo, upstaging traditional mainstream parties.
An overview of populism suggests that economic stagnation and terrorism helped populists make their case. They perceive migration as the main culprit. They clearly ‘otherize’ refugees, minorities and newcomers – mainly Muslims.
The main issue with populism is that it considers people as homogeneous and assumes that people think the same and act the same way. It strongly advocates the idea of popular sovereignty above that of democratic institutions. They don’t accept any other opinion but their own, only because they think they are the majority.
For many, the rise of populists is the unavoidable result of capitalism, which generated economic problems rather than remedy them, and also inequality instead of serving the interests of the people. Can we explain the rise of populism with economy? If it is so, we can conclude that fixing the economy will end the rise of this phenomenon. However, even though a good economy would for sure help solve some problems, there will still be groups unhappy with multiculturalism. The problem is not just the economy, multicultural society and Western identity, culture and values are perceived to be endangered by newcomers. Xenophobia and Islamophobia are nurtured from this fear.
People fear change. The change in the demography is not the only one. The technological changes that affect employment opportunities, the globalization, growing inequality, and terrorism that arrived in city centres affecting daily life, generate anxiety and fear. There is always a tension between progress and stability. However, progress without any change is not possible and change creates winners, but also losers. For the winners, it is easy to ignore the fact that progress can have negative consequences as well. In that respect, people voting for populist leaders want change only if it is for their own advantage. They are trying to avoid the cultural, social and economic changes that may cause fear and discomfort them.
It can be added that so far populism has not been taken so seriously. Some thought of it as a wind that will come and then blow over. However, its reasons and consequences should be debated in order to reach some real answers. It is not a short-term abnormality but the result of a deep distrust against the tradition of politics, the role of the institutions and the functioning of the politics that favours some, ignoring the needs and expectations of the masses.
