Skip to main content

New article on the challenge of populism in the 21st century by Dr Peter Wilkin

As part of a symposium about 'Populisms in the World-System' for the Journal of World-Systems Research, Brunel's Dr Peter Wilkin has published a new article called 'Rip It Up and Start Again: The Challenge of Populism in the Twenty-First Century'. The article situates contemporary populist movements in longer political and theoretical trajectories. Read more about the article from the abstract below and access the article on the journal's website:

"This essay examines contemporary populist movements along an axis rarely explored in world-systems analysis: as either libertarian or authoritarian social movements. Rather than representing a fundamental break with traditional notions of left and right-wing politics, this article argues that these populist movements are a re-imagining of older political debates, which framed the conflict between the Enlightenment and its opponents—in short, between the search for a universal and just social order—as opposed to a defense of forms of cultural nationalism." (Wilkin, 2018)