The Populist Revolt against the West

Ralph Schroeder

doi:10.1163/15691330-bja10041

Abstract

Abstract The question this article tries to answer is: to what extent can the recent rise of populism outside of the West be attributed to anti-Western sentiment? Interest in populism has focused on Western democracies, with far less attention devoted to regimes in non-Western parts of the world. This article takes three major cases – India, China, and Turkey. The article examines the recent intensification of populism in the three cases, but also shows how populism fits into the longer comparative-historical trajectories of a revolt against Western domination. The conclusion puts populism in a wider perspective: how do these non-Western assertions of populism shed light on debates about alternative paths within modernity and on the nature of populism in Western democracies?

Highlights

The question that this paper tries to answer is: to what extent can the recent rise of populism outside of the West be attributed to anti-Western sentiment? Scholarly and media interest in populism has focused on Western democracies and there has been a recent surge of attention to the topic in response to Brexit, anti-immigrant parties in Europe, and the election of Donald Trump
The conclusion examines how non-Western revolts fit into a larger debate about a globalizing modernity: in what sense are the non-Western populist paths alternatives to Western democracy, and if so, how do they shed light on departures from – or variations within – modern social and especially political development? The conclusion points to the tensions within rising populisms, including in Western democracies, as well as the potential forces that can counteract them
A government led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s akp (Justice and Development Party) has been in power since 2002 and its Islamist politics have become ever more pronounced. This populist backlash shares key features with India and China, including a rejection of external Westernizing forces and domestic anti-elitism combined with bottom-up exclusionary politics

Summary

Introduction

The question that this paper tries to answer is: to what extent can the recent rise of populism outside of the West be attributed to anti-Western sentiment? Scholarly and media interest in populism has focused on Western democracies and there has been a recent surge of attention to the topic in response to Brexit, anti-immigrant parties in Europe, and the election of Donald Trump. Via free access paper takes three major cases – India, China, and Turkey – and traces the current rise of populism to the assertion of a non-Western political project.

Results

Conclusion