Populism is finding its voice on both sides of the Atlantic—in the Trump phenomenon in the United States, in the Brexit vote in the UK, in other separatist movements in the European Union. Populism is the people pushing back at elites and giving voice to dissatisfaction. There is something to applaud in this, and something to fear—even for the populists themselves—and there are complicated lessons to be learned from it.
Populism can be defined either as left wing or right wing, the former characterised by anger over inequality and economic austerity, the latter by anxiety over immigration. The combination of the two makes a very toxic mixture; populist demagogues are quick to forge the link, typically blaming one on the other.