Our World in 2018

suspicious of elites “feeding at the trough”
while everyone else allegedly struggles to
make ends meet.
Part of the problem is that expectations
have outrun reality. When expectations go
unmet, people begin to suspect that the
social compact itself is unfair. It is this sense of
unfairness, far more than income levels, that
has fueled support for populist movements.
After all, one can earn much more than the
Polish minimum wage and still resent the
fact that the global rich are squirreling away
trillions of dollars in tax havens, or that
transnational companies routinely shirk their
tax obligations.
Moreover, populists, despite their racist
rhetoric on the issue of migration, are not
wrong to intuit that a generous welfare state
is incompatible with open borders. There
are a billion people on the other side of the
Mediterranean Sea who cannot be blamed for
wanting to live in a European welfare state.
Many of them live in countries with neither
welfare nor even a functioning state.
Europe cannot accept everyone. There are
legitimate discussions to be had about
tolerable immigration rates, Western
countries’ absorptive capacity, and border
controls. Moreover, it is fair to ask if there are
better ways than mass migration to address
the problems associated with an aging
and parental leave. What has been most
irksome to populists and their sympathizers
is that merely raising such questions exposes
one to accusations of intolerance, or worse.
As to the third populist grievance, it was
predictable that those left behind in the age of
globalization and meritocracy would fall back
on collective identities as a source of dignity.
And in Poland and the US, in particular, this
trend has been reinforced by a decline in
religiosity. Nationalism is the last refuge of
those who fear losing a way of life. It is partly
a reaction of endangered majorities that do
not want to become minorities.
Now, alongside this list of grievances,
consider the fact that, historically, every
communications revolution has led to a
political revolution. In a world of unregulated
Radosław
Sikorski
R
is a former Polish
foreign minister.
OUR POLITICAL SOCIETIES
social media, populist demagogues do not
have to do much to stoke the confusion,
paranoia, and cynicism that are already
smoldering within the electorate.
Looking forward, policymakers and political
leaders need to address the fundamental
concerns that populists have tapped. First,
we need to fix capitalism, by ensuring that
social contributions are rewarded more
appropriately than they are today. Even if we
contribution than doctors, are we really
expected to believe that they contribute a
thousand – let alone ten thousand – times
more? Likewise, it is time to freeze out
companies and individuals that maintain
accounts in OECD-designated tax havens.
The EU, for its part, is right to insist that
multinationals pay taxes wherever they do
business.
Member states need to support the
Commission’s proposals for tougher controls.
Second, governments need to reassert
control over national – or, in the case of the
EU, supranational – borders. Citizens want
a say over who comes to live in their midst,
and under what conditions. And they want to
ensure that those who do come plan to be
good neighbors.
Third, politicians must stop mining cheap
nationalism for tactical electoral advantages.
They owe it to voters to explain why their
interests will be better protected through
multilateralism. This is especially true for the
EU, which needs to cultivate more European
patriotism, perhaps through joint military
action on the periphery.
Finally, the Internet, social media, and other
new technologies need to be regulated, either
by pressuring companies to police themselves,
or by enacting new legislation. Like any worldchanging
invention, digital technologies have
obvious downsides that cannot be ignored.
These are difficult but achievable goals.
Contrary to the defeatism that has become
rampant nowadays, we can, through
democratic means, enact legislation and
adopt regulations that address the problems
populists have identified. But we need to
hurry. If we don’t act, the populists will – and
with far more damaging results.
OUR WORLD | 2018
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2018. www.project-syndicate.org
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