Today I am going to elaborate on a book that I just read recently. It´s name is "The Populist Eplosion - How the great Recession Transformed American and European Politics". This very analytical, small, yellow book was written by John B. Judis, an American author and journalist from Chicago. It was published just in the last year in October, which is very important, talking about the big Issue of Populism. In his book, Judis doesn't just focus on the topic of right-wing populism, but also deals with populism from the left and its origin.
He started with American history and the history of American Populism, just after defining what is actually meant by the term. It is surprising that we use it so frequently and for almost everything that we don't want to accept, but can't precisely define what it actually means. He describes the offspring of American Populism in the "Peoples Party". Actually coming from the socialist movement, this party formed as an opposition against the so called "Gold Standard" which was the mainstream back then. Mainly carried by the will of farmers and against the deflation of milk-prices, the movement (calling itself a "socialist") won four States in the Presidential election in 1892.
Judis makes use of this historical example, which already used the same rhetoric as populists today. It was "us" against "them", or "the people" against "the establishment". A single Issue that changes, makes the populist waves. Back then, they tried to give an alternative against the consensus of established politics, today the populists in America as well as in Europe, try to fight against neoliberalism. Therefore, the author compares Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, two of the candidates for the presidential election of 2016 which were both considered as populist. Bernie Sanders is mostly known for his claims for the people. Together with them, he wants to start a "political revolution", in which everyone can participate. His main opponents are Wall-Street Bankers and the "Established Politics". The same is true for Trump, Judis claims. Often accused of being a fascist, Trump makes use of the same rhetoric as Sanders. He claims that politics are rigged in America. Moreover he wants to renationalise, in case of doing good for American citizens. He says that he just wants to help the poor by different measures.
Furthermore Judis makes a collective walk around all the countries of the European Union. Starting with Spain and Greece, in which left-wing populist parties almost took over charge, he continues with the right-wing populists in Great Britain and France. All these Parties have something in common. They are very critical of European politics, such as the Euro and the Euro-Zone. All of them claim that there is no good in a bureaucratic Union, without any social values or a social net. The only option is leaving. Moreover, he points out very precisely that the populist, it doesn't matter if from left or right, steal most of their voter from former labour, social democratic and socialist parties. Thats mainly because they are feared of they living standard, also by the issue of immigration, Judis claims.
To put it in a Nutshell, I really liked reading this book. Those are not often page turners, this is one! Besides the fact that I liked the style of writing, I was really in favour of the manner that Judis dealt with populist movements. This book gives a good overview over Populist movements all around the world, not going too deeply into detail with analysing those. Therefore, I highly recommend buying and reading it!
One can buy "The Populist Eplosion - How the great Recession Transformed American and European Politics" by John B. Judis for 9,99€ at Amazon.
He started with American history and the history of American Populism, just after defining what is actually meant by the term. It is surprising that we use it so frequently and for almost everything that we don't want to accept, but can't precisely define what it actually means. He describes the offspring of American Populism in the "Peoples Party". Actually coming from the socialist movement, this party formed as an opposition against the so called "Gold Standard" which was the mainstream back then. Mainly carried by the will of farmers and against the deflation of milk-prices, the movement (calling itself a "socialist") won four States in the Presidential election in 1892.
Judis makes use of this historical example, which already used the same rhetoric as populists today. It was "us" against "them", or "the people" against "the establishment". A single Issue that changes, makes the populist waves. Back then, they tried to give an alternative against the consensus of established politics, today the populists in America as well as in Europe, try to fight against neoliberalism. Therefore, the author compares Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, two of the candidates for the presidential election of 2016 which were both considered as populist. Bernie Sanders is mostly known for his claims for the people. Together with them, he wants to start a "political revolution", in which everyone can participate. His main opponents are Wall-Street Bankers and the "Established Politics". The same is true for Trump, Judis claims. Often accused of being a fascist, Trump makes use of the same rhetoric as Sanders. He claims that politics are rigged in America. Moreover he wants to renationalise, in case of doing good for American citizens. He says that he just wants to help the poor by different measures.
Furthermore Judis makes a collective walk around all the countries of the European Union. Starting with Spain and Greece, in which left-wing populist parties almost took over charge, he continues with the right-wing populists in Great Britain and France. All these Parties have something in common. They are very critical of European politics, such as the Euro and the Euro-Zone. All of them claim that there is no good in a bureaucratic Union, without any social values or a social net. The only option is leaving. Moreover, he points out very precisely that the populist, it doesn't matter if from left or right, steal most of their voter from former labour, social democratic and socialist parties. Thats mainly because they are feared of they living standard, also by the issue of immigration, Judis claims.
To put it in a Nutshell, I really liked reading this book. Those are not often page turners, this is one! Besides the fact that I liked the style of writing, I was really in favour of the manner that Judis dealt with populist movements. This book gives a good overview over Populist movements all around the world, not going too deeply into detail with analysing those. Therefore, I highly recommend buying and reading it!
One can buy "The Populist Eplosion - How the great Recession Transformed American and European Politics" by John B. Judis for 9,99€ at Amazon.
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