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The Polarization of Populism and Its Institutional Origins

Published:2018-06-14 Published:2018-06-14   Author:Lin Hong   [Small] [Middle] [Big] [More]

There have been four waves of populism in history, and the first three were generally left-leaning on the political spectrum. Since the beginning of the 21st century, the fourth wave of populism has swept Europe and America and exhibited a different tendency—polarization with both leftist and rightist strands. Neoliberalism, which has led globalization for thirty years, has bred and accelerated this tendency. The neoliberal economic policies have brought about concentration of wealth and inequitable distribution, and the middle and lower class are trapped in economic anxiety. Therefore, the leftist populism rises. The cultural values advocated by neoliberalism have aggravated identity politics and other single-issue politics, and the middle and lower class identity anxiety triggered the rightist populism. The various drawbacks of representative democracy, which constitutes the political proposal of neoliberalism, are the political stimulus for the anti-elitist and anti-establishment stances of both leftist and rightist populism and the institutional origins of the polarization tendency of current populism.

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