“Disaster narrowly averted” was the British Guardian newspaper’s view of the defeat – by only 31,000 votes out of 4.64 million – of the far right Freedom Party in Austria’s presidential elections this past weekend. But it is hard to escape the conclusion that varied forms of populism – whether […] Read more »
Economic hardship and politics in Indiana
The rise of Donald Trump should inject a dose of humility into those of us who practice political science or political journalism (I plead guilty on both counts). With a few honorable exceptions, we didn’t predict what was coming, and we couldn’t believe the evidence of our own senses as […] Read more »
It’s not just Trump. Voting for populists makes voters angrier and more discontented.
Populist politicians and parties are increasingly winning elections in the developed West. … Many scholars and pundits interpret these parties’ success as an expression of political discontent with the ruling elite. But that’s only one part of the story, as we show in a recent article. Here’s the other part: […] Read more »
Why Trump Looks Eerily Familiar to Germans
The fascination with Donald Trump is as intense in Berlin as in Boston or Boise. When I visited several German cities this week for talks about the U.S. election, questions about Trump from students, academics, young think-tankers, and journalists outnumbered questions about Hillary Clinton by about 10 to one. … […] Read more »
The political scientist who saw Trump’s rise coming
In the summer of 2015, most of the political world still thought Donald Trump’s candidacy was a joke. Norm Ornstein didn’t. … And in an August 2015 piece for the Atlantic titled “Maybe this time really is different,” he made that case. … So here’s his explanation for how he […] Read more »
Trump and Sanders aren’t blazing new trails. Populism has run through U.S. politics for a very long time.
Populism is hard to ignore in the current primary elections. Donald Trump, the self-described political outsider, is promising to “make America great again” by defending the people against Washington insiders, whom he portrays as self-interested, corrupt and incompetent. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont touts his track record as a longtime […] Read more »