'Required reading' Andrew Marr, New Statesman
In 2024, two billion people went to vote and populism won big. Donald Trump returned to the White House. Marine Le Pen surged in France. Reform UK became Britains most successful far-right party in modern history. Across the West, authoritarian populists now govern one-quarter of the worlds democracies.
But is this peak populism or the populists tipping point?
From the counting halls of inner-city Birmingham to the trading floors of Wall Street, from the Heritage Foundation war room to the algorithmic outrage machines of social media, Liam Byrne exposes the forces propelling the populist surge and reveals how to stop it.
Drawing on original polling of thousands of voters, interviews with leading thinkers, and on-the-ground reporting across Britain, Europe and America, Byrne decodes the populist playbook. He reveals populisms five tribes, showing which voters can still be won back. He traces the millions flowing into Britains populist media-political complex. He maps the rhetoric populists use to weaponise fear and nostalgia. And he warns: democracies rarely collapse in normal times they fall after the next crisis, when hope collapses.
WHY POPULISTS ARE WINNING sets out a bold plan to rebuild the radical centre of Western politics. It is a field manual for democratic renewal written for anyone who refuses to let fear win.
Arvustused
By far the most consistent and cogent attempt by a Labour MP to understand their enemy and respond with brio required reading for anyone aspiring to be part of the drama swirling around No. 10 -- Andrew Marr * New Statesman * Better understand populism to defeat it, argues Liam Byrne with wonderful, persuasive verve backed by wide research. It's much less deep rooted than you might think. By the end he had convinced me how it can be done. Let him convince you! -- Will Hutton Liam Byrne is one of the sharpest minds in Westminster and never has a book been more timely. Required reading -- Ruth Davidson An important, timely and insightful book that sets out why - and crucially how - we need to fight for our democracy and social justice -- Gordon Brown A welcome shot of serious thought about populism * Financial Times * [ A] short but ambitious book in which populism is considered with rigour and originality. Byrne neatly lays out the movements paradoxes and hypocrisies. Its against elites, but led and funded by the rich. It presents itself as a mass uprising, but relies on low turnouts for much of its electoral success. It talks a lot about freedom, but its policies are authoritarian. It promises a glorious future, but its social vision is 'soaked in the brandy of nostalgia' - one of several rich and irreverent images with which Byrne decorates his chapters Byrne is refreshingly interested in the world beyond Westminster orthodoxies * Guardian * Energetic and provocative ... combines polemic with polling data and sombre research-led analysis of the state of the nation * The Times *
Muu info
Armed with original research from across Europe and America, Liam Byrne explains why populism has seduced voters worldwide, unpacks the five keys to populist appeal and offers a game-plan for defeating populism and saving democracy
The Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP is a British Labour Party politician and the MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North. He is a member of His Majestys Privy Council and the Chair of the House of Commons Business and Trade Select Committee. He chaired the Global Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund 20192025. He served in the Cabinet in 10 Downing Street and Her Majestys Treasury. An Honorary Professor of Social Science at the University of Birmingham, Liam was the 20242025 Visiting Parliamentary Fellow at St Antonys College, Oxford. He was a Fulbright scholar at the Harvard Business School and Gwilym Gibbon Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford. Before entering politics, Liam first worked in strategic consulting and banking; in 2000, he founded a fast-growing venture-backed European technology company. He is the author of more than twenty publications on economics, foreign policy and public service reform. His book, THE INEQUALITY OF WEALTH: WHY IT MATTERS AND HOW TO FIX IT, was shortlisted for the Westminster Book Awards 2024.
