The End of Populism?

Have you noticed the recent flood of commentaries and articles in the mainstream media dwelling on why populism has no future? In fact, “Is this the end of populism?” literature has been around for some time. “Has Europe Reached Peak Populism?” asked a commentator in Politico in 2019, before expressing the hope that “the tide could be turning against the anti-establishment nationalist movements that have upended politics across the Continent, leaving the barbarians howling in frustration at the gates.” “We seem to have passed peak populism,” predicted Andrew Adonis, a leading British anti-Brexit voice, in Prospect in 2023. Earlier this summer in the Financial Times, Janan Ganesh titled his essay “Populism will eat itself.”

For these and other authors hoping for the end of populism, the term itself is but another word for fascism. And yet there was a time when many hopeful observers perceived populism as a medium of democracy. “Populism is the authentic voice of democracy,” wrote Christopher Lasch in The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy. 

Populism is not an ideology. Nor is it a political party or an organization with its own structured identity. Rather, it is an orientation toward life. The populist spirit emerges when society faces a crisis of solidarity. While legacy parties ignore this crisis or argue that traditional forms of solidarity are outdated, populist movements are heavily invested in reclaiming them. 

The spirit of populism encourages people to reconnect with one another, with their community, and with the generations that preceded them. Populist movements respond to the prevailing mood of cultural insecurity by offering people a sense of belonging, emphasizing the importance of tradition and home. From the standpoint of the cultural elites, people who take their home and community’s traditions seriously are likely to be uneducated xenophobes.

In the domain of politics, populism represents a demand for a voice. Unlike the technocratic-managerial class and cultural elites, populists regard the people as capable of making sound choices, drawing on their own wisdom and moral resources.

Many of the reactions and attitudes associated with populism constitute what the political philosopher Hannah Arendt characterized as the search for pre-political authority. The common quest for meaning through the forging of pre-political solidarity often affirms traditional family, community life, and religion. Preserving these is regarded as common sense by millions of citizens.

The unprecedented rapidity with which new populist-oriented parties have made electoral headway during the past decade shows that there is a very real demand for movements that are more in tune with the concerns of people who feel they have been systematically ignored. Take the example of the Portuguese political movement Chega (meaning Enough). Founded in 2019, the Chega party has become the main opposition party in Portugal. In the U.K., the demand for a voice has led to the spectacular success of Reform UK, now polling neck-and-neck with Labour and outperforming the Conservatives after years on the political fringe. The emergence of MAGA in the U.S. should not be seen as the accomplishment of Donald Trump; it was a response to a demand for a movement that could express common-sense values.

Populism’s success rests on popular demand for parties that articulate and give shape to widely held sentiments that the political establishment has rejected or dismissed. Unlike left-wing protest movements, national populism responds not only to social or economic injustice but also to a demand for dignity—for people’s values and way of life to be respected. That is why cultural rescue is one of the key objectives of populist movements. Contemporary populism emerged as a reaction to the experience of cultural loss. Populists demand answers to the problems created by mass migration, multiculturalism, devaluation of the nation, the celebration of LGBTQ+ ideals, and other policies that threaten traditional cultural norms.

The demand for populist common sense will not disappear anytime soon. Why? Because the spirit of populism resonates with millions who believe that their culture is under threat and needs saving.