Populism, Far From Turned Back, May Be Just Getting Started

Populism, Far From Turned Back, May Be Just Getting Started
This means that as long as a populist party does not win more than 50 percent of the vote — virtually impossible in systems like
that of the Netherlands — the other parties can band together to form a coalition excluding it, known as a "cordon sanitaire." Yet even though Mr. Wilders did not take control of government, his movement and policies advanced.
UKIP wrote that We live in an unprecedented era of volatile party support,
Whether populist parties win or lose depends not just on the level of popular support — which appears
surprisingly consistent across countries — but also on the nature of the political system.
It triumphed in the British vote to leave the European Union
and in the American presidential race, fell short in the Dutch elections, and won its greatest-ever success in France’s first presidential round and faces likely humiliation in the second round.
Since the 1960s, populist parties have doubled their average share in European elections
and tripled their share of seats in European legislatures, according to a recent paper by the political scientists Ronald Ingleheart and Pippa Norris.
Even if populist parties are often too small to take power, when the correct forces align, they are powerful enough to reshape politics.
And while Republican voters may have been skeptical of Mr. Trump, polarization made their side’s victory — and the other’s defeat — feel imperative.