Home » Opinion » Chinese Views
Experts ponder causes, impact of populism
Print Edition
AS observers mull over the results and implications of Italy’s referendum, many wonder whether the world will see a surge in populism and a backlash against globalization.
These concerns were shared by experts and scholars who attended the Fourth China-UK University Think-tank Dialogue held on Monday at Fudan University. Kevin Featherstone, professor of politics with the London School of Economics, said in his speech that this year will be remembered as a “year of populism,” especially in view of recent events such as Brexit and Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election.
Complex as the phenomenon may be, one established definition of populism is as “an ideology that pits a virtuous and homogeneous people against a set of elites and dangerous ‘others’ who are together depicted as depriving (or attempting to deprive) the sovereign people of their rights, values, prosperity, identity, and voice,” Featherstone said, adding that Brexit is a typical example of growing populist sentiments in Britain.
To make his point about how strong such sentiments have become, he compared the slogans of the Brexit campaign with similar Eurosceptic messages heard elsewhere in continental Europe.
One of the main slogans of the Brexit campaign is “We Want Our Country Back,” which in Featherstone’s view touched upon every sensitivity in the public’s opinion at the time the referendum was held. Featherstone believed that the message is an implicitly anti-immigration slogan, an implied attack on people who are not considered part of the “We” identity group.
‘Us against them’
Certainly not all Britons buy these biases, and Britain on the whole remains an open nation. But this kind of “us against them” rhetoric hits home with a disaffected audience whose prejudices are magnified by a host of social media tools.
Some distinct messages frequently aired among those in the “Leave” camp were “We’ve had enough of experts,” or “Don’t believe anything the experts are telling you,” or “We know better than the experts.” Featherstone cited an opinion survey in the UK that asked people if they would rather place their trust in the wisdom of ordinary people than the opinion of experts. The survey found that among those who strongly agreed with the proposition that ordinary people are more trustworthy, 81 percent of them voted to leave the EU. Featherstone said it suggests a clear correlation between the two choices.
Britain’s changing attitudes toward globalization are also rather revealing.
He pointed out that a past survey showed that 26 percent of Britons express a fear of globalization, significantly lower than in France and Germany. And Britons’ fears of globalization have more to do with their worries about its corrosive effect on traditional values than anxieties about its economic consequences, said Featherstone.
Unlike Featherstone, who stressed the role of identity politics in the shaping of populist sentiments, Huang Ping tended to explain the rise of populism in many countries through economic circumstances. The researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences argued that, to the chagrin of globalization’s advocates, it has widened the income gap instead of narrowing it. This yawning divide has left many seething, because they feel disillusioned at being left out of what is often touted as a great bonanza that benefits every one, said Huang.
The fact that the urban poor — and even some middle class members — are missing out on opportunities of better jobs and brighter futures promised by globalization helps to explain why they would rather believe their own instincts over the statistics, facts or expert opinions fed to them prior to every national vote or referendum. Hence the popular tendency to fall for populist agendas.
If left unchecked, this tendency could lead to calls for protectionism, eventually causing the world to become even more economically polarized, and worse off, rather than the other way around, said Huang. He also noted that until efforts are made to scale back the tide of populism, we’ll perhaps have to brace ourselves for more “Black Swan” scenarios, meaning highly improbable incidents that have tremendous consequences.
Huang expressed the hope that a post-Brexit Britain would stay on course as a robust partner with China in trade and other areas. Indeed, there’s every reason to believe, given Britain’s long history of trade, that Brexit will not necessarily propel Britain in a more nativist direction.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
