Populism

I read the op-ed in Dagens Nyheter today, written by Olof Petersson, doctor in political science, about the increasing popularity (no pun intended) of right-wing populism in Europe (in Swedish). His point is that the increase is due to the fact that more and more people feel a great distance between themselves and politicians, particularly because “the member states have delegated a large part of the political power to the EU”.

Peterson writes that “populism simplifies [the inherently complex] problems [of politics] to the point of caricature and therefore has an advantage in the shallow media society”. This makes me think of the election campaigns that are starting now, since it’s election year in Sweden, like many other European countries. During the pre-election period, all parties become populists – often using the extremely tiresome idiom of selling by running down the competition.

The parties address popular issues in advertising campaigns – and they have to be clear and concise in order to attract voters. The problem is that all parties seem attractive when advertising is done this way. Combined with the fact that all parties’ ads are about what the competition does wrong, it isn’t easy for voters who feel unsure about which party to vote for. In fact, the truly populist parties probably seem to be the most attractive.