Our World in 2018

OUR POLITICAL SOCIETIES
JASON TESTER GUERRILLA FUTURES |FLICKR
Revolutionary Centrism
By Tony Blair
The center ground of Western politics is known
as the field of pragmatism, quiet reason, and
evolution, where political actors eschew extremes
and seek compromise. Because political centrists are
distrustful of loud-mouthed and divisive rhetoric, they
have taken a somewhat de haut en bas view of the way
the political world functions.
Now they are being overwhelmed. Populism of the
right and the left is rampant. The old rules no longer apply.
T
a few years back are now a passport to voters’ hearts.
Policy positions previously regarded as mainstream are
sneered at, and those regarded as outlandish are very
much inland today. And political alliances that have
endured for a century or more are breaking apart, owing
to profound social, economic, and cultural changes.
The right is fissuring. The prevailing sentiment is
nationalist, anti-immigration, and often protectionist,
giving rise to a new alliance. In the United Kingdom,
traditional Labour supporters in old industrial
communities and wealthy de-regulators and business
owners have united in their dislike of the way the world
is changing and “political correctness.” Whether this
coalition – and similar formations in other countries – can
survive its inherent economic contradictions is unclear,
though I would not underestimate the cohesive power
of a shared sense of cultural alienation.
But, as can be seen in the fighting within the
Republican Party in the United States, the Conservative
E
the right still sees itself as championing free trade, open
markets, and immigration as a positive force.
The left is also dividing. One part is moving to a much
more traditional statist position on economic policy, and
to a form of identity politics that is much more radical
on cultural norms. The other part clings to an attempt
to provide a unifying national narrative around concepts
of social justice and economic progress.
Of course, what used to be called the mainstream
of both the left and the right could take back control of
their political parties. For now, however, the extremes
are in charge, leaving many – socially liberal and in favor
110 2018 | OUR WORLD