Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Spring 4-15-2024

Course Name

INPR 310 - Work in Thought and Action

Faculty

Dr. Joanna Simos

Department

College of Global Studies

Abstract

Over the course of the last decade or so, a wave of populism - especially of the right-wing type - has crashed upon many democratic countries across the globe. Through this wave, sitting governments have been ousted, the direction of policy has been turned around completely, and to this day, debates about the future of democracy continue in each of them. So too was the United Kingdom hit by this wave. A boiling of right-wing resentment of David Cameron led him to call a referendum on British membership in the European Union to placate the United Kingdom Independence Party in 2015. The narrow victory of the referendum the following year was the catalyst for what is nearing a decade of political turmoil in the country. There is just one difference compared to the rest of the world - the driving force behind this wave was policy, not a person. While Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage certainly took advantage and gave a voice to this policy, “Brexit” is the key to understanding British Populism in its current form. So it must be asked - what does it mean for British politics, and British populism as a whole that its tendencies fail to unify itself around a single leader? Is it better for a movement to hold itself to an idea (or ideas) rather than a person?

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