Deliveroo politics

WHY are citizens of free countries increasingly disenchanted with democracy and tempted to vote for populists and authoritarians?

Peruse the press or spend an afternoon with recent academic literature, and you will find that one answer stands out: Democracies have failed to deliver. Call it the “Deliveroo theory of politics”, after the popular app that delivers a meal to your door in record time.

Maybe economies have not grown enough, wages have stagnated, inequality has risen, or leaders have been corrupt and self-serving. The list of possible factors is long, but they all point in the same direction: Voters are so fed up with a lack of tangible benefits that they turn to populists who, despite their clownish and crass behaviour, come across as different from the political elite – more decisive and able to get things done.