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Reclaiming Populism: How Economic Fairness Can Win Back Disenchanted Voters
The rise of populism is usually attributed by commentators to either income inequality or culture wars. We are witnessing, they argue, either the displaced anger of the 99% or the revenge of the 'deplorables' against the 'liberal elite'.
They are wrong. In this forensic book, Eric Protzer and Paul Summerville argue that populism is actually a response to a profound sense that many of the world's leading economies are unfair. They show that in meritocratic countries, such as Australia, Canada, Portugal, and Japan, populism has not taken root. In contrast, the countries that have been hit by the worst populist upheavals - like the US, UK, France, and Italy - have low social mobility. The way to address populism is to restore the connection between contribution and reward and craft a politics that reclaims the reasonable grievances that drive populism while discarding its false diagnoses and toxic 'solutions'.
Reclaiming Populism is a must-read for policy-makers, scholars and citizens who want to understand the crises of our age and bring disenchanted populist voters back into the fold of liberal democracy.
They are wrong. In this forensic book, Eric Protzer and Paul Summerville argue that populism is actually a response to a profound sense that many of the world's leading economies are unfair. They show that in meritocratic countries, such as Australia, Canada, Portugal, and Japan, populism has not taken root. In contrast, the countries that have been hit by the worst populist upheavals - like the US, UK, France, and Italy - have low social mobility. The way to address populism is to restore the connection between contribution and reward and craft a politics that reclaims the reasonable grievances that drive populism while discarding its false diagnoses and toxic 'solutions'.
Reclaiming Populism is a must-read for policy-makers, scholars and citizens who want to understand the crises of our age and bring disenchanted populist voters back into the fold of liberal democracy.
- GenresNonfictionPolitics
213 pages, Hardcover
Published January 4, 2022
3 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 26, 2023
A short book that was nevertheless a dense skimmer but buried in there were some good nuggets most notably in the conclusion that had concrete ideas about what might work to reclaim a sense of trust that institutions are focused on what's fair for everyone.
Equality of opportunity supported by a good education and health care available to all with a stable safety net for, hopefully, rare adverse conditions while still permitting fair but unequal outcomes.
There was a statement near the end about economic fairness being hard to achieve when one citizen prospers by undermining the opportunities of another. What has been happening due to globalization, offshore tax havens and politicians and civil servants being very heavily lobbied by the corporations and the well off is that it is not a single person but a homogenous small group that has disadvantaged and undermined other large groups in many countries.
This is happening globally as governments are forced to buy jobs with subsidies, tax cuts, or help boost profits with lax enforcement (LTC, orphan wells in Canada) all while either creating or loyally maintaining tax loopholes that continually starve governments of tax revenue. That lost revenue means fewer services or more debt - or often both. This trend has been going on for decades and only fixing that might mean more equitable societies less vulnerable to populism.
Equality of opportunity supported by a good education and health care available to all with a stable safety net for, hopefully, rare adverse conditions while still permitting fair but unequal outcomes.
There was a statement near the end about economic fairness being hard to achieve when one citizen prospers by undermining the opportunities of another. What has been happening due to globalization, offshore tax havens and politicians and civil servants being very heavily lobbied by the corporations and the well off is that it is not a single person but a homogenous small group that has disadvantaged and undermined other large groups in many countries.
This is happening globally as governments are forced to buy jobs with subsidies, tax cuts, or help boost profits with lax enforcement (LTC, orphan wells in Canada) all while either creating or loyally maintaining tax loopholes that continually starve governments of tax revenue. That lost revenue means fewer services or more debt - or often both. This trend has been going on for decades and only fixing that might mean more equitable societies less vulnerable to populism.
August 5, 2022
A good read for all who care about burgeoning populist movements in their respective countries. Clear, edifying, comprehensive. As a Canadian reader, I could not help but take in the thesis on economic fairness through our country's lens. It seems that we may be well placed to take on populists within our country but vigilance about economic fairness in our public policy, as emphasized in this book, is important.
Our leaders and elected officials, from top to bottom, and most importantly, citizens, would do well to have a look at this book and start walking and talking the language of economic fairness. Populists are talented at what they do and have begun to succeed in this era but there is no reason why liberal democrats cannot beat back their challenge in the electoral arena.
Recommended!
Our leaders and elected officials, from top to bottom, and most importantly, citizens, would do well to have a look at this book and start walking and talking the language of economic fairness. Populists are talented at what they do and have begun to succeed in this era but there is no reason why liberal democrats cannot beat back their challenge in the electoral arena.
Recommended!
August 7, 2024
The author argues that the rise of populism is caused by inequality of opportunities and relative unfairness in the society. It is definitely good to have fairer society, but it seems that the populism (understood as the appeal to popular passion as opposed to appeal to reason) is a necessary consequence of general suffrage and majority rule. And the appeal to passions can be countered only with another appeal to passions, as the voters objectively tend to be “rationally ignorant” and “rationally irrational”.
August 1, 2025
A thoughtprovoking book, debunking a lot of traditional leftist (only leftist?) views about inequality and economic fairness. Well argued and straight-forward to read, this thoroughly researched monograph should change economic perception and also lead to policy adjustments. Highly recommended.
January 12, 2022
The opposite of critical theory: milquetoast recommendations.
December 27, 2022
Reclaiming Populism is a well structured, economical text on how policy makers can defuse combustible populism in Western nations. The author argues that fairness and equal outcomes cannot be conflated, and forced equal outcomes lead to disaster. In addition, the author notes that populist anger must be taken seriously, and not further inflamed by the social justice left. Protzer discusses how a lack of social mobility, and deep institutional issues or "syndromes", must be diagnosed in each nation, and dealt with over the long term. This is a refreshing, moderate and pragmatic text that can help the Center sap the fuel out of today's right-wing populism. One drawback is that Protzer appears to lean heavily on market-based solutions, but does acknowledge the need for inputs such as public healthcare and high quality education to ensure fair opportunity.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews