When Reagan and Thatcher came to power, “authoritarian populism†was a term academics used to describe their politics. Now it’s a phenomenon, growing rapidly, cutting across old definitions of left and right, goes the argument. But it’s not so simple and the phenomenon is not new. The term “authoritarian populist†is a construct that, if we are not careful, could blind us to the real roots of centrism’s sudden crisis – and to the answers.
Paul Mason (journalist)