The Tidal Wave of Populism(s): The View From and On Europe

The article is part of a special issue of the newspaper on the overall theme of "Political Populism: A Wave of the Age." It begins by looking at what is meant by populism(s), preferring its plural form because its characteristics are widely contested. It goes on to ask if there are any current indications of a turning of the tide in the Western World, and especially in Europe. In this, it considers in relation to what it calls "recent reckonings with reality" of such populist political figures as Boris Johnson, Donald Trump, and Silvio Berlusconi. At the same time, it notes an more mixed picture across the wider Europe, citing especially the rise of the Alternative für Deutschland in Germany. The article then identifies a number of factors which provide fertile ground for the rise of populism, before arguing the importance of being able to articulate political visions capable of offering more than technocratic management of social and economic systems that are experienced by so many as unjust, but without falling into the kind of alternative populist utopianisms that can then themselves, on their first contact with reality, lead to further disenchantment and cynicism around the political process which it is possible could metamorphosise into even more dangerous developments.