Populism is a very subjective term, it’s interpretation varies from—one group to another. Populism historically has come in variants across the ideological spectrum. All variants of populism in past and present—have few things in common, which are its defining characteristics.
Populists are unfriendly towards elites, set of privileged people—who run the state, established institutes and rule of law. They claim to have all people on their back, call themselves—the voice of “unheard”. Consider only themselves as “legal”, others with varying or divergent views are called as “illegal” or in extreme cases as “threat to the nation”.
Populists may be militarists or pacifists. Populism can be inclusive as well as exclusive. Brexit is one such example of exclusive populism when people of Britain decided to leave the European Union. Trump's deportation of “illegal immigrants” which was his main election plank and his “America First”—amounts to exclusive populism. The populism of exclusiveness is dominant today than it was ever—after the establishment of liberal democracies.
Populists focus on closing their doors for the stigmatised groups like refugees—which can be seen in Europe today. Where ever, there is a totalitarian or an authoritarian regime voted to power aftermath of a populistic movement. Its main victims are rights of minorities and rule of law. Rights of minorities are under threat, as populists generally believe in the will of the majority. Nationalism is growing in many economically well-doing countries. Despite these countries allowing foreign investment, immigration and trade—rise of nationalism and populism may be blamed on insecurities of culture. Populists tend to limit rights of its citizens—they perceive them as an obstacle to their vision, it is a dangerous trend. They tend to reverse the openness of world, free exchange and global markets.
Some analysts believe there is a vacuum in global economic leadership, as U.S.A traditional leader is shifting towards ethnonationalism and protectionism.
President Xi Jinping became the first Chinese president to attend World Economic Forum at Davos. Reasons were obvious, China see itself as a contender of global economic leader and is ready to take the charge.
Xi Jinping in his speech strongly defended globalisation and free trade.
Xi said “protectionism is like locking oneself in a dark room in the hopes of protecting oneself from danger, but in so doing, cutting off all light and air”.
“No one will emerge as a winner in a trade war,” He said in his speech. China’s growth rates depend on free trade, that makes them a staunch supporter of the World Free Trade Agreement. China has been an unambiguous friend of EU and European unity. China is trying to portray itself as a reliable partner and ready to co-operate with global economies.
China becoming world economic leader will change the world order by its foundations.
Ken Roth—Executive Director, Human Rights Watch in its world report titled “The Dangerous Rise of Populism, Global attacks on human rights values.” The report said,” The appeal of the populists has grown with mounting public discontent over the status quo. In the West, many people feel left behind by technological change, the global economy, and growing inequality. Horrific incidents of terrorism generate apprehension and fear. Some are uneasy with societies that have become more ethnically, religiously and racially diverse. There is an increasing sense that governments and the elite ignore public concerns.”
Populism has an adverse effect on the world order. World economy rate is growing at lower rates. Global trade rates are forecasted to be low, by IMF (International monetary fund).
IMF managing director Christine Lagarde earlier said,” stagnant wages and diminishing job security, the populist uprising threatens to depress a world economy.”
Populistic movements in the west and around are critical to status quo and are sceptic about globalisation. Populism is giving rise to xenophobia, immigrants are perceived as a threat.
According to a report from the Munich Security Conference “The world is facing a post-truth, post-West, post-order era fueled by the rise of populist and illiberal forces.” The report further included “Populist parties reject the cultural modernization in Western societies and revolt against what they perceive as threats to the nation, ranging from immigration and cosmopolitan elites to international institutions.” It further said, “There are many questions regarding the stability of global governance, about the validity and the strength of the international system, of global order.”
Trump administration’s intentions to dishonour international agreements and snubbing international institutions that sustain global. America’s multi-national companies rely on them for their good.
In many countries populism is rising despite higher growth rates, dumping theories of populism being associated with the disenchantment of franchise due to laggardness of economy of a nation.
For instance, when Philippines’ economy was growing at 8 percent. The franchise of Philippine voted to power an authoritarian populist as their president, who openly called for the killing of suspected drug-dealers without any trial. When a set of elites ruling a nation for long, turn blind eye to issues impacting its citizens, they are ready to take the risk to elect an authoritarian populist as head of their state.
Reasons for a surge of populism vary from one place to another, so varies antidot.
In general, there is a generation of discontent in the citizens of nations—where ever there is an upsurge in populism. To combat populism, first, there has to be combat for the problem/crisis which is responsible. Governments have not effectively able to combat the crisis. Liberal democracies/institutions are only stable when the majority of people support it. These legitimate democratic institutions have had been not delivering to the people effectively. According to some analysts, root cause of rise of populism is democratic government’s not able to guarantee their citizens a higher standard of livings. For many citizens, democracy is an empty vessel—they are looking for alternatives and populistic movements are easiest available.
In Europe, citizens perceive all political elite same, who are not able to address issues affecting them.
Many believe electoral measures can be taken to obstacle the march of populists. They believe there should decentralisation of power and more democracies should move towards presidential system; obviously, it has not worked in case of America.
To raise standards of living for its citizens, countries need to revisit its economic policies. With tax cuts to rich globally, it is to be acknowledged that it hits those in low-income zones. Globalisation, technological growth, automation and tax cuts raise the quality of life of society as a whole. It hits pockets of those in population, who are in lower income zones or their income has been stagnant for years.
The ultimate aim of a government should not be only managing economy at the macro level; interested only in increasing GDP (Gross Domestic Product) rates and no management at the micro level.
Today 1% of population holds 50% of world’s wealth. There is a number of millionaires increasing globally year after year. It doesn’t imply a standard of living is globally increasing. People are becoming rich at the cost of other people with stagnant income or lesser income. Wealth distribution is highly un-equitable around the world. Economic policies need to rectified so that they tend to make an equitable distribution of wealth among the people. Unless and until the growth of populism is highly inevitable.
