The only exceptional leaders we need today are the ones who help us to govern and take care of ourselves.
A child walks past Mongolians holding up banners at a protest against offshore account holders in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, in March.
(AP Photo/Ganbat Namjilsangarav)
According to famed anthropologist Arjun Appadurai, the central question of our times is whether we’re witnessing the worldwide rejection of liberal democracy and its replacement by some sort of populist…
What sort of beliefs made a mass movement succeed?
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, pictured here with French President Emmanuel Macron, has managed to keep centrists happy while holding on to her conservative base.
Reuters/Fabrizio Bensch
Populist parties like France’s Front National typically stress traditional family values. So is it possible for them to appeal to traditional leftist voters like single women and the queer community?
Corbyn may not have won enough seats to take over Parliament, but he dealt May a serious blow nonetheless.
AP Photo/Markus Schreiber
UK voters delivered a devastating blow to the prime minister, who combined a populist message with her party’s traditional economic policies. She may now face a power struggle.
Populist politics would appear to have left deliberative democracy by the wayside, but innovations that engage citizens in reasoned decision-making have much to offer.
‘Pulse of Europe’ supporters hold banners before a meeting between Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron on May 15 2017 in Berlin.
Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters
Even if populist movements have been turned back in a few European elections, populism is not going to disappear. The EU needs a strategy to contain it.
The Arc de Triomphe Is illuminated in green to celebrate the Paris Agreement’s entry into force.
U.S. Department of State from United States
Bill Hare, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research
Like president George W. Bush before him, Donald Trump made the announcement from the White House Rose Garden, showing that Republican governments have failed to learn past lessons.
Solidarity in action.
John Stillwell/PA Archive/PA Images
Macron’s win showed France is internationalist, outward looking, pro-EU and free market-oriented; Le Pen’s rise revealed that it’s also nationalist, protectionist, anti-EU and suspicious of outsiders.
As a French specificity, blank vote is counted but not recognised, despite a steady increase of its usage in many elections in the country.
Eric Gaillard/Reuters
Both Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron have gained from the very deep disaffection of the French electorate with its traditional political representatives.