Populists ‘down but not out’ after tough 2022  

A DEFINING feature of the 21st century – so far – has been the growth of populism which has sent not just political, but also economic, shockwaves across much of the world.

Yet, while some still think the populist wave of the last two decades may not yet have peaked, new research released last week (Jan 8) indicates that the trend has taken an unexpected reversal. Data from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change shows that the number of populist leaders has fallen to a two-decade low across the world. This includes the removal from power in 2022 of Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines who was limited to one term in office, and Gotabaya Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka, who was driven out of office too in response to a severe economic downturn.

Or put another way, the number of people living under populist rule has – unexpectedly – fallen by a massive 800 million since the pandemic began. The report notes that 1.7 billion people are now living under a populist leader, compared with 2.5 billion in 2020 (including the more than 300 million US populace under the presidency of Donald Trump).