The main democratic challenge of our times is to avoid and neutralize the re-emergence of populism.
We have seen how the dissatisfaction with the political system and its ability to produce concrete solutions, triggered a resurgence of populism in Latin America from the Venezuelan crisis in 1998 onwards. Those movements are in relative retreat today.
In Europe (the National Front of Jean Marie Le-Pen in France, the Austrian Freedom Party of Jörg Haider and other expressions in the United Kingdom) some populist parties even became part of government coalitions towards the end of last century.
Populist parties have played a certain role in politics of countries such as Australia and New Zealand, even reaching the ruling coalitions. In the United States, political campaigns led by independent candidates (Ross Perot and Pat Buchanan) used populist rhetoric to capture votes.
In recent years, surprising results in favour of radical political proposals have multiplied in the West. The populist tendencies that I predicted in Argentina 4.0 The Citizen Revolution (2013) have deepened and strengthened in many countries.
These populist movements usually appear riding the discontent of the population with the political system and assuming their representation.
They claim to speak for the people, who “are never mistaken” and dismiss the intermediation of the institutions or authorities in their “direct” relationship with the population, with the declared purpose of creating a political dynamic that responds to the popular will.
Populism may have ideological bases on the left or on the right and generally organizes the political debate around slogans of the type; “us” against “them”; to catalyze discontent against a common enemy (the economic establishment, the political establishment, the immigrants, etc.) generating empathy, commitment and support among the people.
