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THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF LEFT AND RIGHT POPULISM

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2022

Jon Cruddas
Jon Cruddas*
Affiliation:
House of Commons, London, UK
*
*Corresponding author: jon.cruddas.mp@parliament.uk
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Abstract

The deepening distrust in democracy has grown out of a decade of low growth and cuts to public spending, which in turn has consolidated wage decline while also fuelling a wider sense of economic insecurity. As poverty and inequality intensify, social mobility is in reverse and the social contract is under growing strain. Support for populists has recently receded, but the inability of democratic systems to address deep-seated problems sows the seeds for future populist revolts. Both left- and right-wing governments have responded to increasing anger and alienation with policies that exacerbate existing inequalities of income and wealth, combined with disparities of decision-making power and social status. These are ethical as much as economic questions and they demand a much more robust response than technocratic administration. Otherwise, ethical social democracy and communitarian conservatism will fail to defeat the authoritarianism of both radical-right national populists and the tech-utopianism of far-left populists.

Keywords

democracydistrustmaterial needsauthoritarianismpopulismH7P16Z18
Type
Special Issue Articles: The Political Economy of Populism
Information
National Institute Economic Review , Volume 259: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF POPULISM , Winter 2022 , pp. 10 - 19
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of National Institute Economic Review

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