Chris Johns: Economic self-harm is the root of populism

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'Populist, authoritarian demagogues are great at promises, excel at faux empathy with the people and are utterly useless at dealing with complexity,' writes Chris Johns

Populism and its offspring, the culture war now raging in many countries, have, according to Sandbu, mostly economic roots. Those who focus on social or political causes are missing a deeper truth.

Often, but by no means always, the “left behind” are white, older people without post-secondary education. The finger of blame should rather be pointed at technological change. But that misdiagnosis has led to an anti-globalisation movement which plays to Trumpian trade wars, Britain’s act of immense self-harm and other examples of demagoguery.It allows those who argue against immigration and the free-flow of people around the world to say “I’m not racist, but immigration is a consequence of globalisation so must be curtailed.

Income and wealth inequality lurk at the heart of all of this. Britain and America did create plenty of jobs to replace the ones lost to technological change. But they tended to be in the lower productivity service sectors where pay is commensurately lower and employment often insecure. Change has to come and now is surely the time to address, radically, all of the issues we are faced with.

 

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