National Populism: The Revolt Against Liberal Democracy

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National Populism: The Revolt Against Liberal Democracy is a 2018 book by political scientists Roger Eatwell and Matthew Goodwin, published by Pelican Books. The book attempts to explain the success of national populist movements using a what the authors call a 4D model, with four variables: destruction of the national culture caused by large-scale immigration; deprivation of opportunities because of globalization and frequent disruptions and slow growth in the post-industrial economy; growing distrust amongst rural and working-class voters, who increasingly feel alienated by liberal, cosmopolitan, urban-inhabiting media and political elites; and de-alignment from traditional political-ideological allegiances, witnessed in high levels of voter volatility, or people switching party support between elections. [1] [2]

National Populism received a positive review in The Economist . [1] It was selected as one of the Sunday Times' books of the year. [3] Historian Paul Jackson praised the book as "a clear, well-grounded introduction to the field" but noted that it was hampered by a "lack of critical awareness on how minorities experience national populist agendas". [4] Sociologist Peter Jones wrote that the book raised important issues and examine salient trends, but questioned "how far their sympathetic view of national populism is guided by evidence-based reasoning, vis-a-vis distaste for liberal-left values". Jones compared the book with Eric Kaufmann's Whiteshift and also Goodwin, Kaufmann and others' contributions to the magazine Spiked , which he argued attempted "to discredit liberal ‘identitarianism’ and diversity politics." He felt that the book "feels like a contribution to the building of a ‘contrarian’ public platform." [5] Martin Shaw's review of the book praised its inclusion of useful information and argued that the authors were correct to highlight that opponents of right-wing populism were in need of better responses to the challenge populists pose, but argued: "but it is quite clear what this book is. It is part of a project to normalise and detoxify the new right." [6] In the International Political Science Review , Felipe Antunes de Oliveira wrote that Eatwell and Goodwin's "willingness to accept problematic elements of the national populist agenda" justified Shaw's characterization of the book. [7] Umut Ozkirimli called the book an "addition to the academic alt-right corpus". [3] William Davies reviewed the book for the Guardian, noting that the authors usefully provide evidence that the rise of right-wing populism has been a long-term process but criticized it for being "unstinting in its generosity to rightwing populist leaders, and unfailingly compassionate to their supporters." [8]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Two new books explain the Brexit revolt". Britain. The Economist. November 3, 2018. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
  2. ↑ Goodwin, Matthew (October 3, 2018). "Why national populism is here to stay". Politics. The New Statesman. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
  3. 1 2 "White is the new black: populism and the academic alt-right". openDemocracy. 2019-01-02. Retrieved 2023-08-22.
  4. ↑ "Book Review: Roger Eatwell and Matthew Goodwin, National Populism: The Revolt Against Liberal Democracy (London: Pelican, 2018) £9.99 – Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right".
  5. ↑ Jones, Peter (April 20, 2020). "Book Review: Roger Eatwell and Matthew Goodwin, National Populism: The Revolt against Liberal Democracy". Sociology. 54 (2): 420–422. doi:10.1177/0038038519880465 – via CrossRef.
  6. ↑ staff, Politics co uk (October 31, 2018). "Going native: Populist academics normalise the anti-immigrant right". Politics.co.uk.
  7. ↑ de Oliveira, Felipe Antunes (November 20, 2022). "Democracy in the prison of political science". International Political Science Review. 43 (5): 648–661. doi: 10.1177/0192512120932435 – via CrossRef.
  8. ↑ Davies, William (November 15, 2018). "National Populism review – compassion for supporters of Trump, Brexit, Le Pen" – via The Guardian.
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