Globalisation and the populist backlash

Abstract

Populism may seem like it has come out of nowhere, but it has been on the rise for a while. Economic history and economic theory both provide ample grounds for anticipating that advanced stages of economic globalization would produce a political backlash. While the backlash may have been predictable, the specific form it took was less so. Rodrik distinguishes between left-wing and right-wing variants of populism, which differ with respect to the societal cleavages that populist politicians highlight. The first has been predominant in Latin America, and the second in Europe. These different reactions appear to be related to the relative salience of different types of globalization shocks.