Right-wing populism's rise will dominate global politics for the next decade: columnist

In a piece for The Atlantic this Monday, Yasmeen Sethan argues that the 2010s was the decade where populism surged around the world and predominantly far-right parties “permeated the political mainstream.” But according to Sethan, the 2020s will the decade there people see the consequences of those policies.

"The decade brought us the election of Donald Trump in the United States and the Brexit vote in Britain," Sethan writes. "It witnessed the rise of the Alternative for Germany—the first far-right party to enter the country’s national parliament in decades—as well as the ascent of populist parties in countries such as Austria, Brazil, Italy, India, Indonesia, and Poland. By 2018, as many as 20 populist leaders held executive office around the world."

"If the 2010s were the years in which predominantly far-right, populist parties permeated the political mainstream, then the 2020s will be when voters 'are going to see the consequences of that,' Daphne Halikiopoulou, an associate professor of comparative politics at the University of Reading, in England, told me," she continued. "In some ways, they already have. In Britain, the 2016 vote to leave the European Union—and the political fallout it caused—is likely to be fulfilled at the end of January, following Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s resounding victory in last month’s general election. Elsewhere, populist parties have already made their impact—if not through passing legislation at the head of government, then by applying pressure in opposition."

"Whereas much of the past decade revolved around arguments over issues of immigration and sovereignty, the 2020s could be dominated by a new, more pressing narrative: climate change," writes Sethan.

Read her full piece over at The Atlantic.