Abstract
Abstract This introductory chapter provides a background of anti-system politics. The term “anti-system” was coined by political scientist Giovanni Sartori in the 1960s to describe political parties that articulated opposition to the liberal democratic political order in Western democracies. The reasons for the rise in anti-system politics are structural, and have been a long time brewing. The success of anti-system parties forces us to ask fundamental questions about the nature of the political and economic system, and the way in which the twenty-first-century market economy affects people’s lives. Rather than dismissing anti-system politics as “populism,” driven by racial hatred, nebulous foreign conspiracies, or an irrational belief in “fake news,” people need to start by understanding what has gone wrong in the rich democracies to alienate so many citizens from those who govern them.
Published Version
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