2017-02 & 04 Populism

Our second discussion, entitled “The international ramifications of populism: the end of the “liberal world order”?” will take place on Friday 2017-04-07 at 13:00 in Room F. In preparation we recommend you read pages 5 to 11 of the Munich Security Report 2017 Post-Truth, Post-West, Post-Order? (NB as ever inclusion here ≠ endorse)

“Liberal democracies have proven to be vulnerable to disinformation campaigns in post-truth international politics. Citizens of democracies believe less and less that their systems are able to deliver positive outcomes for them and increasingly favor national solutions and closed borders over globalism and openness.”

In addition the following resource is also recommended :

2017-01 Liberalism in Retreat: The Demise of a Dream 8 pg opinion

Additional resources mentioned during our discussion (NB inclusion here ≠ endorse):

2018-10-11 Could populism actually be good for democracy? (theguardian.com)

2017-04-06 The Knowledge Illusion: Why We Never Think Alone book preview

“our intelligence resides not in individual brains but in the collective mind. To function, individuals rely not only on knowledge that is stored within our skulls but also on knowledge stored elsewhere, be it in our bodies, in the environment or especially in other people”

2017-02-27 Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds (The New Yorker) 12 min

“any graduate student with a clipboard can demonstrate that reasonable-seeming people are often totally irrational”

2017-02-23 Is far-right populism winning in the Netherlands?” (Financial Times) 17 min

“A trope of populism is that out-of-touch elites ignore the anger of “ordinary people” until it boils over. That doesn’t seem to be what has happened in Oude Pekela”

2017-02-23 The Spectre of Populism (BBC Radio 4) 10 min podcast

“modern-day populism has largely been created by centre parties who have identified themselves with an unsustainable status quo”

2017-02-07 How Economic Populism Works (Project Syndicate) 4 min

“Populist policies are called that because they are popular. And they are popular because they work – at least for a while”

2017-01-25 Four Certainties About Populist Economics (Project Syndicate) 4 min

“expectations and confidence matter. Hints that more robust and balanced policy responses are coming have had a noticeably positive effect, though it may be transitory, depending on implementation”

2016-12-30 A resolution for the establishment in 2017: No more no-choice politics (Business Insider UK) 4 min

“Establishment political parties have been playing a dangerous game — contriving situations in which the only acceptable choice happens to be one favored by elites, and hoping that voters will choose it under duress.”

2016-08-01 Denying to the Grave: Why We Ignore the Facts That Will Save Us book preview

“psychological difficulty of incorporating new information is on the cutting edge of neuroscience research, as scientists continue to identify brain responses to new information that reveal deep-seated, innate discomfort with changing our minds”

2014 How to talk about immigration ( British Future Thinktank) 139 pg report

“With tabloid headlines raging, populist parties on the rise and mainstream politicians rushing to bring out new, ‘tougher’ policies, it’s widely assumed that this means public opinion is unvaryingly hostile towards immigration (…). Yet research, from British Future and others, shows this is not the case.”

1996-03 Democracy and Growth (Journal of Economic Growth) 27 pg academic article

“There is a suggestion of a nonlinear relationship in which more democracy enhances growth at low levels of political freedom but depresses growth when a moderate level of freedom has already been attained.”

trump-cover-final-crop2-inverted In addition to our main reading recommendation (pages 14 to 24) the following list of five shorter resources are also highly recommended for our discussion. Below them you will find a longer list of additional resources. NB recommend ≠ endorse.

2016-12-20 ¿Qué es el populismo? (El País) / Qu’est-ce que le populisme? (bernard-henri-levy.com) 4 min (automated translation: En)

“Le populisme pose (premier théorème) : le peuple sait ce qu’il veut. Puis (second théorème) : il a, quand il veut, toujours raison”

2017-02-04 El populismo: manual para usuarios (El País) 3 min (automated translation: En & Fr)

“Populism is not an ideology . It is a strategy for gaining and retaining power. It has always existed, but in recent times it has reappeared with force, powered by the Internet and by the frustrations of societies overwhelmed by change, economic precariousness and a threatening insecurity before the future.”

2017-02-01 How Populism Stumbles (NYT) 5 min news article

“Populisms vary, but their genesis is generally the same. Some set of ideas commands public support but lacks purchase in elite policy debates.”

2016-12-19 What exactly is populism? (The Economist) 2 min

“Populists may be militarists, pacifists, admirers of Che Guevara or of Ayn Rand; they may be tree-hugging pipeline opponents or drill-baby-drill climate-change deniers. What makes them all “populists”, and does the word actually mean anything?”

2016-11 Populism on the March: Why the West Is in Trouble (Foreign Affairs) 6 pg article

“What is populism? It means different things to different groups, but all versions share a suspicion of and hostility toward elites, mainstream politics, and established institutions. Populism sees itself as speaking for the forgotten “ordinary” person”

We also offer an extended reading list including videos & podcasts. Feel free to tell us what you think at the end of the page.

2017 Populism: A Very Short Introduction preview

2017-01-31 Global Freedom Drops for 11th Year as Populism, Autocracy Rise (VOA news) 3 min

2017-01-29 The Macroeconomics of Reality-TV Populism (Krugman NYT) 1 min

2017-01-27 Is left-wing populism the best response to right-wing populism? (OpenDemocracy.net) 7 min webpage