At a time when global warming stokes ever more extreme weather, the global rise of climate-denialist right-wing populism not only impedes effective responses, but also raises the specter of a dystopian fascist future. Continue reading
You can have a scientifically rigorous diagnosis of climate change, together with a plethora of reasonable policies to tackle the problem, but if your program lacks a strong coalition and powerful political strategy, it will fail. Continue reading
Fascism is much in the news. In Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, Turkey and elsewhere, we read reports of the rise of right-wing nationalist-populism, while, in the Middle East, “Islamo-fascism” is blamed for vicious and unending wars. In the United States, Donald Trump is now routinely dismissed as a #fascist. Is the US falling into the same deadly pattern so evident elsewhere? Continue reading
Left populism has recently emerged as a political response to growing inequality, persistent poverty and the dominance of neoliberal doctrine. It dates from the early 2000s, with varying strains in Eastern and Central Europe, the “Bolivarian Revolution” of Hugo Chávez and Nicolas Madura in Venezuela since 1999 and somewhat similar regimes in contemporary Ecuador and Bolivia. In Reinventing the Left in the Global South, I deal with the last three cases in detail.
is left populism just old-style populism in new clothes, or is it a new and genuine alternative to neoliberalism? Continue reading