This chapter examines the question of populism. Although there is some wider discussion, especially around definitions, it is not an exhaustive treatment of the concept. Instead, the focus is mainly on how deindustrialization and the current period of global capitalism can help us to understand contemporary populism. This is done by first defining populism in the opening section and providing some brief account of its rise or resurgence in recent times, as well as some of its general and country specific features (one of which is hostility to China and to some extent globalization). The chapter then moves on to examine populism with a more specific focus on deindustrialization and contemporary capitalism. Populism has specific manifestations in particular parts of the world, and the chapter cannot begin to examine the similarities and differences between populism in Brazil, India, Hungary, and so on. Instead, it provides some details from the British (or English) case study, and especially the debate over the so- called “left behind”, which is identified as a group of workers (and retirees) who live in regions affected by deindustrialization. The issues discussed here also have some parallels with the US case and the Trump presidency, and this is discussed in some depth.

WHAT IS POPULISM?

Much has been made of the rise of populism in recent years, and while political parties of the populist right have grown since the 1990s, it is the period after the global financial crisis which saw a particularly significant rise. In very different, nationally specific ways, populism has been associated with Modi in India (elected 2014), Trump in the US (president 2017– 2021), Bolsonaro in Brazil (president 2019– 22) as well as the vote to leave the EU in Britain in 2016. In addition, there are a wide range of parties – particularly across Europe – that have had some degree of success (Lewis et al. 2018), and in some respects Putin in Russia is also seen as a central international influence and part of this right- wing populist surge (Feffer 2021: ch.2).

Populism essentially argues in favour of “the people” against a corrupt elite. At one level this is banal, because all political movements and ideology claim to represent a “people”. However, populism attempts to construct a people, and does so in opposition to what are deemed to be non- persons (Muller 2016).