AntiSystem Politics, Jonathan Hopkin
AntiSystem Politics, Jonathan Hopkin
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Anti-System Politics
The Crisis of Market Liberalism in Rich Democracies

Author: Jonathan Hopkin

Narrator: Nigel Patterson

Unabridged: 11 hr 29 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 09/29/2020


Synopsis

Recent elections in the advanced western democracies have undermined the basic foundations of political systems that had previously beaten back all challenges—from both the left and the right. The election of Donald Trump to the US presidency, only months after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, signaled a dramatic shift in the politics of the rich democracies.

In Anti-System Politics, Jonathan Hopkin traces the evolution of this shift and argues that it is a long-term result of abandoning the post-war model of egalitarian capitalism in the 1970s. That shift entailed weakening the democratic process in favor of an opaque, technocratic form of governance that allows voters little opportunity to influence policy. With the financial crisis of the late 2000s these arrangements became unsustainable, as incumbent politicians were unable to provide solutions to economic hardship. Electorates demanded change, and it had to come from outside the system. Using a comparative approach, Hopkin explains why different kinds of anti-system politics emerge in different countries and how political and economic factors impact the degree of electoral instability that emerges.

About Jonathan Hopkin

Jonathan Hopkin is associate professor of comparative politics in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics. He is the author of Party Formation and Democratic Transition in Spain and coeditor of Coalition Britain. He has published widely on the party politics and political economy of Europe. He contributes to several blogs and writes regularly for Foreign Affairs.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Robert

Nuanced perspective on 'alt' politics which uses economics to explain movements ranging from Sanders to Brexit. GDP growth since 1971 has been restricted to the most well-educated and wealthy of western societies, whereas the living conditions of the every-man have declined. 'Left' and 'right' parti......more

Goodreads review by Tony

Hopkin is a professor of International Relations @ LSE, and he knows his subject matter. I turned to this title to get a better appreciation of the transformative change in political preferences since 2008. The book delivers an impressive array of facts and figures from countries as diverse as Italy......more

FANTASTIC! This a very well researched and written study about the rise of anti-system politics in rich democracies across the globe. Highly recommend for anyone even slightly interested in politics.......more