In The News

DW: Far-Right Populists and Climate Policy

November 28, 2018
Virtually all climate researchers agree that the evidence reveals climate change spurred by human activities is underway. Yet right-wing skeptics reject the science as hoax, equating concern with “an irrational environmentalist religion,” reports Deutsche Welle. They obstinately compare themselves to Copernicus, the mathematician who angered religious leaders by proposing the sun was the center...

The Atlantic: Education Divides the US

Adam Harris November 7, 2018
Political divisions that linger over decades are difficult to resolve quickly. Adam Harris, writing for the Atlantic, points to an emerging divide among US white voters: 61 percent of those without college educations select Republicans and 53 percent with college educations select Democrats. About 50 years ago, college degrees were less common, more often held by Republicans. The civil rights...

3 Quarks Daily: Populism in Less Developed Countries

Pranab Bardhan August 13, 2018
Populism comes in many forms. For economists, populism represents the allure of short-term fixes that cause long-term damage; in political science, the term represents strong leaders wiling to dispense with the rule of law or minority rights. Populism of developing countries has its own traits, attracting educated, middle class and urban citizens as opposed to the uneducated, rural and working-...

New Yorker: Obrador, Trump and the Error of Comparison

Jon Lee Anderson July 4, 2018
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, also known as AMLO, won 53 percent of the vote along with taking the majority of legislature seats. Issues in Mexico include the war on drugs, complacency against the Trump administration and failure to prosecute major criminal cases. By building grassroots support over two decades, López Obrador ended the 88-year-old hold grip on power by two parties, PRI and PAN....

Spiegel Online: Toughest Adversary in Europe

Walter Mayr June 29, 2018
Italy’s interior minister is a populist who opposes immigration, firing up crowds by suggesting the European Union has treated its third largest economy as “garbage.” His party, Lega Nord, is a junior partner in the coalition government, but he is the most outspoken leader with tough talk crafted perhaps to distract Italians from their debt challenge – standing at more than 134 percent per GDP,...

Spiegel: Fixing the Euro

Henrik Enderlein June 6, 2018
The European Union has a lingering problem with some members taking on excessive debt. In turn, economic woes fuel resentment against more disciplined members, suggesting that some loans could go unpaid. “The danger emanating from the current, out-of-control situation doesn't just come from the possible return of the euro crisis and its far-reaching consequences for growth and prosperity,”...

Forbes: Globalization vs Nationalism Forces Investor Rethink

Kenneth Rapoza May 17, 2018
Investors worldwide are assessing the forces of globalization including trade and immigration versus nationalism, protectionism and populism. Inequality, declining worldwide, is rising in the United States, and “investors that benefit from globalization are leaving the middle and working class in the dust,” notes Kenneth Rapoza for Forbes. Those left behind clamor for limits on international...