The Rise of Populism

The recent rise of nationalist parties in Europe and elsewhere has generated a considerable degree of public and scientific interest. Some see this development as a rejection of long-proclaimed liberal values, an explanation somewhat surprising in light of the overall success of the Enlightenment project and increasing world-wide support of Enlightenment values. The common wisdom is that the rise of the far right is driven by fear and by fear-mongering politicians. I argue for a contrary view. Support for far-right parties, such as the Front National in France, begins with a sense of injustice. That sense of injustice is expressed as anger. It is anger that is the basis for the rise in support of far-right parties. Moreover, as a practical matter, resolving fears, which arise in uncertain conditions, is a quite different matter than resolving grievances. Mislabeling the foundations of the appeal of far-right parties as fear-driven will continue to preclude effective responses. But there is a larger story. Emotion has long been a central topic of scholarly and popular interest. Research in neuroscience shows us that much of what emotions do is inaccessible to our conscious, but plodding, reasoning mind. This is because the work of emotions is so rapidly processed that the conscious mind is unable to apprehend it. What flows from this understanding requires that we significantly revise what we think emotion does and how that, in turn, must shape our thinking on democratic citizenship. This account holds that the different capabilities of reason and of emotion jointly enable deft management of conditions of threat.