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Outrage over the economy does not explain surging global populism

There's a deeper discontent with the way people are governed, and immigrants are part of the problem

Published Tue, Dec 27, 2016 · 09:50 PM

Washington

THE year belonged to people like Bill Heinzelman, a retiree from Wisconsin, and Lucien Durand, a farmer in south-eastern France. They helped propel the populist wave that swept across the western world in 2016, blindsiding pollsters and investors with how strongly they felt the status quo in politics must go.

The conventional wisdom among election observers and establishment politicians is that widespread anger at being left behind by globalisation compelled Britons to forsake the European Union (EU) and Americans to vote for Donald Trump.