by Daniel Drache and Marc D. Froese
ECW PRESS
2022/$24.95/256 pp.
We teeter on the edge of something dark and dangerous.” Such is the tenor of Has Populism Won? The War on Liberal Democracy. Written by political scientists Daniel Drache of York University and Marc Froese of Burman University in Lacombe, this engaging and disturbing book is a warning that “the past decade will be remembered by historians for the fact that the populist insurgency held a knife to the throat of liberal democracy and got away with it.”
The book sheds light on factors that led to the current rise in extreme rhetoric, intolerance and authoritarian politics. While there were only three populist governments in the world’s major economies in 2000, that number is now 36. “Today populism is a worldwide phenomenon, growing, metastasizing and reaching into every corner of modern politics.”
So, how did we get here? The “middle class has become increasingly convinced that markets are casinos manipulated by the rich,” write Drache and Froese. Rising inequality, the 2008 financial meltdown and the COVID pandemic left voters feeling cheated and angry. Charismatic leaders swept in to offer simple solutions, amplifying the message that “you aren’t getting ahead because somebody else is stealing your share.”
But these “solutions” are a lie. Populist leaders “advertise their movement as giving power back to the people while simultaneously building political machines that give more power and authority to the leader themselves.” To gain yet more power, populist leaders rid themselves of their obligations to other nations. “It is going to be dangerous times as extreme elements in leading states fight for influence and tear at the global order that constrains their darkest desires,” write the authors. Armed conflicts are coming, they warn. And you can say goodbye to a consolidated response to climate change.
Canada has thus far fared relatively well, but the authors note that one province has a penchant for populism: Alberta. Jason Kenney “plays to his base’s belief that they are being cheated out of a prominent place in confederation and promises that he will fight for them.” Readers can guess how the authors might view the new premier, Danielle Smith.
“The populists have made big gains, normalized a paranoid style of politics, and put liberal democracy on its back foot, fighting for its future,” they write. In sum, “it didn’t start with Donald Trump and it certainly won’t end with him.” Restoring liberal democracy will be “a generational struggle,” write Drache and Froese. While they offer some solutions, they struggle to find a clear way to reverse the trends. Only one thing’s for sure: “If democracy dies, millions of us will have had a hand in it.”
Annie Prud’homme Généreux teaches science writing at UBC.
