Populism'S Impact On Society

The belief in populism has gained quite a lot of traction and supporters since the fall of the centre-left and centre-right dualism that ruled politics in Europe after World War Two. Populism has attained clout across nations around the world, not just exclusively in Europe, it can be found within countries in the west such as Canada. The term populism refers to a strategy that appeals to those within lower classes that feel like their voices are unheard. Within Galston’s article it is suggested that populism has affected a majority of Europe’s governments in a negative way. Milke’s article does not showcase a negative view of populism, it instead touches on how populism can be seen with the public and that it is much harder to see where populism lies within the political parties until it bubbles to the surface.

The more substantial article between the two is Galston’s as it showcases the breakdown of how politics were changed because of populism, how populism affects the public, and the issues that come with populism. In Galston’s article it touches on how populism itself was the biggest European political progression in recent memory. Populism’s popularity was believed to have come from the great recession, since these were times that the public believed that they were not being heard. After Europe was able to get back on track economically, populism did not die down, it continued to thrive. The political spectrum has changed slightly as populism’s effect is taking supporters from the middle-left and has chipped away at their influence. The middle-right has not been affected the same way that the middle-left has, due to the fact that middle-right has slowly started develop a populist approach to counteract the rising popularity of the opposition. Within Europe there has been a toxic populist approach to appeal to the voices of the people that feel unheard; anti-immigration.

The reason that this has pull within the people is because of the, “public opposition to mass immigration, cultural liberalization, and the perceived surrender of national sovereignty to distant and unresponsive international bodies. ” All of this stems simply from fear and the people within the nation being close-minded. Milke takes a much more subjective approach to the article as the author brings their own opinion into the article. Within Canada populism is not easy to spot in politics, it is only seen strongly when a populist leader is elected. This is because Canada is, “parties routinely make it more and not less difficult to run against an incumbent or the leader. ” This can be seen within leaders such as Doug Ford, and his policies including repealing the sexual education system put in place by Kathleen Wynne. This directly appeals to the crowd in Canada that believe their voices aren’t being heard. This populist approach is able to help voters come out and vote politicians into power. Populism in Canada catches the population off guard, because when there is a populist in front of a party it is foreign to them as there aren’t many ways for the citizens to properly showcase their desires politically. Of the two articles discussed Galston is much more substantial and informative than the Milke one. This is due to the analysis that Galston did within the article, the points made were very in depth and had multiple stats to help back up the suggested statements. Whereas the other author did state facts, however it was written from a much more personal viewpoint, so their own political biases could have spilled into their thought process. The article that Galston wrote touches on the severity and issues that comes with populism, even though that populism itself is not a negative thing.

The article shows that populism is in fact an extremely smart thing to be doing if in a political position of power. The populist approach can appeal to people that have some negative views regarding immigrants, this can be seen with instances such as Brexit. If the referendum for Brexit was based purely on an economic outview, the result would have been different and Britain would have stayed a part of the European Union. Galston also touches on this problem within Poland he stated, “Likewise, if economic growth had been decisive in Poland, which enjoyed the faster growth rate in Europe between 1989 and 2015, the populist law and Justice Party would never become the country’s dominant political force. ”So it is shown that within European politics, populism is not a positive factor to the society as a whole. It is a smart strategy that has toxic traits when it comes to appealing to those who feel like their voices are not being heard. People fall in line with the populist view due to their fear of those on the outside coming in, the people believe that the immigrants are going to replace them when it comes to work. It really is a an approach that lets people counteract their own irrational fears. This populist approach can be seen as well with the Dutch Prime Minister who has an approach of, “Act normal or go away”, this is just the prime minister exercising an extreme level of populism to appeal to all the people who feel scared of immigrants coming in. This article provides substantial evidence as to how populism can be a negative function for society, and how the improper exercise of it can be toxic to a society.

After multiple readings of both articles it is clear that Galston’s article is in fact much more cohesive with the message it is trying to convey. Inside Galston’s article there were valid points made towards why populism works within the societies in Europe, yet the approach can still be very negative as it can encourage hate. The article is able to pinpoint the impact that populism has had on the political landscape, whereas the other article only pinpoints how populism is perceived mainly within Canada and with their leaders, but not the negative impacts it can have within society. Populism is an extremely smart tactic as it can be used to help the public, however it isn’t a proper technique to use all the time as it is seen within the article, that the results aren’t always efficacious to society.