A Powerful Theory of Why the Far Right Is Thriving Across the Globe
As we approach the 2022 midterms, the outlook for American democracy doesn\u2019t appear promising. An increasingly Trumpist, anti-democratic Republican Party is poised to take over at least one chamber of Congress. And the Democratic Party, facing an inflationary economy and with an unpopular president in office, looks helpless to stop them.\n\nBut the United States isn\u2019t alone in this regard. Over the course of 2022, Italy elected a far-right prime minister from a party with Fascist roots, a party founded by neo-Nazis and skinheads won the second-highest number of seats in Sweden\u2019s Parliament, Viktor Orban\u2019s Fidesz party in Hungary won its fourth consecutive election by a landslide, Marine Le Pen won 41 percent of the vote in the final round of France\u2019s presidential elections and \u2014 just this past weekend \u2014 Jair Bolsonaro came dangerously close to winning re-election in Brazil.\n\nWhy are these populist uprisings happening simultaneously, in countries with such diverse cultures, economies and political systems?\n\nPippa Norris is a political scientist at Harvard\u2019s Kennedy School of Government, where she has taught for three decades. In that time, she\u2019s written dozens of books on topics ranging from comparative political institutions to right-wing parties and the decline of religion. And in 2019 she and Ronald Inglehart published \u201cCultural Backlash: Trump, Brexit and Authoritarian Populism,\u201d which gives the best explanation of the far right\u2019s rise that I\u2019ve read.\n\nWe discuss what Norris calls the \u201csilent revolution in cultural values\u201d that has occurred across advanced democracies in recent decades, why the best predictor of support for populist parties is the generation people were born into, why the \u201ctransgressive aesthetic\u201d of leaders like Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro is so central to their appeal, how demographic and cultural \u201ctipping points\u201d have produced conservative backlashes across the globe, the difference between \u201cdemand-side\u201d and \u201csupply-side\u201d theories of populist uprising, the role that economic anxiety and insecurity play in fueling right-wing backlashes, why delivering economic benefits might not be enough for mainstream leaders to stave off populist challenges and more.\n\nMentioned:\n\nSacred and Secular by Pippa Norris and Ronald Inglehart\n\n\u201cExploring drivers of vote choice and policy positions among the American electorate\u201d\n\nBook Recommendations:\n\nPopular Dictatorships by Aleksandar Matovski\n\nSpin Dictators by Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman\n\nThe Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt\n\nThoughts? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com. (And if you're reaching out to recommend a guest, please write \u201cGuest Suggestion" in the subject line.)\n\nYou can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of \u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\u201d at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.\n\n\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\u201d is produced by Emefa Agawu, Annie Galvin, Jeff Geld and Rog\xe9 Karma. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair. Original music by Isaac Jones. Mixing by Jeff Geld. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta. Special thanks to Kristin Lin and Kristina Samulewski.