John B. Judis - The Politics of Our Time: Populism, Nationalism, Socialism

PRAISE FOR

The Populist Explosion

Named one of the 6 Books to Help Understand Trumps Win by the New York Times

Named one of the Best Books of 2016 by Bloomberg A Fareed Zakaria GPS Book of the Week

An intelligent guide to a phenomenon by no means over.

FAREED ZAKARIA

CNN

Well-written and well-researched, powerfully argued and perfectly timed.

Economist

In November, the fate of the Republic will turn on one question: How popular is the populism of Donald Trump? The Populist Explosion [is a] cogent and exceptionally clarifying guide to a political phenomenon that is at once elusive and, yes, explosive.

JONATHAN ALTER

New York Times Book Review

The Populist Explosion is far and away the most incisive examination of the central development in contemporary politics: the rise of populism on both the right and the left. John Judis, whose track record is unrivaled, is the ideal author to tackle the subject, and he has done a superb job, placing contemporary trends, including the rise of Donald Trump, in historical perspective. Judis demonstrates the crucial role of the 2008 recession both here and in Europe in discrediting the neoliberal agenda. This is must reading.

THOMAS EDSALL

New York Times

Shows why journalists who have a sense of history, and its irony, need not be bewildered by the astonishing revolt against globalized elites in our time.

PANKAJ MISHRA

Bloomberg

Not only do these volumes provide conceptual clarityhistorian David Greenberg has lamented that the term is so overused, it risks losing all meaningbut they also point to the risks of dismissing populist outbreaks, suggesting that they could continue shaping American politics on Nov. 9 and beyond.

CARLOSLOZADA

Washington Post

A sweeping narrativerich in historical and political argumentthat ably ties together the insurgencies on both sides of the Atlantic.

JEDEDIAH PURDY

The Nation

PRAISE FOR

The Nationalist Revival

Excellent and compact book. A person of the left, Judis specializes in speaking truth to liberals, something he also did in his earlier The Populist Explosion. He thinks its important for progressives to understand why so many are drawn to Trump and the far right in Europe.

E. J. DIONNE JR.

Washington Post

Methodically and with data widely drawn, Judis points the finger at a globalization that has seen once well-rewarded jobs shipped overseas; at immigration and the cultural and economic resentment it stirs; and at terrorism and the fear of the other it provokes. He also reminds us that ethnic nationalism is hardly new in the United Statesthat the melting pot self-conception of the American nation is relatively recent and that for more than a century the American people conceived their country in strictly white, northern European and Protestant terms. Wisely, he argues that nationalism does not have an innate political color, that it can shade right or left depending on the ideological pigment with which it is combined.

JONATHAN FREEDLAND

New York Times Book Review

John B. Judis, author of The Nationalist Revival, does not see a death-match between imperial liberalism on the one hand and nationalism on the other. His book argues that elites have overreached, both in the U.S. and in Europe, in advocating large-scale immigration and trade deals and foreign interventions. As a result, Mr. Judisa former New Republic editor who has long supported progressive and pro-labor economic policiescalls for a synthesis between liberalism and nationalism.

JASON WILLICK

Wall Street Journal

John B. Judis is the rare left-of-center journalist who takes our populist-nationalist moment seriously. Rather than dismiss the leaders and constituencies of the American and European movements as mere xenophobes, he offers an empathetic balls-and-strikes analysis of the socioeconomic factors that madeand continue to makesuch campaigns viable.

The American Conservative

PRAISE FOR

The Socialist Awakening

Judis writes not merely as an analyst of an ideologys return but as an advocate for its necessity, with particularly shrewd assessments of how the new American socialism can advance, and, alternatively, how it may marginalize itself into irrelevance essential reading for progressives and socialists.

HAROLD MEYERSON

The American Prospect

In The Socialist Awakening, the journalist John B. Judis proposes that a new socialism is emerging among the young and educated. He builds on his earlier volumes on nationalism and populism, collectivist ideas that have surged because of a breakdown of the consensus on the virtues of the free market and of globalization.

MITCHELL COHEN

New York Times Book Review

An eye-opening read I felt an emotional connection to this book about how socialism has evolved over the years in America and Great Britain, and where it stands today. His is an unvarnished renditionthe highs and lows, warts and allof how we got to today and where we might go from here if were successful.

LA Progressive

Completing the trilogy he began with The Populist Explosion and The Nationalist Revival, journalist and political analyst Judis offers a cogent, incisive examination of growing interest in socialist ideals. A pragmatic view of systemic social change.

Kirkus Reviews

John B. Judis

COLUMBIA GLOBAL REPORTS
NEW YORK

The Politics of Our Time : Populism, Nationalism, Socialism

Copyright 2021 by John B. Judis

All rights reserved

Published by Columbia Global Reports

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New York, NY 10027

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Judis, John B., author. | Judis, John B. Populist explosion. | Judis, John B. Nationalist revival. | Judis, John B. Socialist awakening.

Title: The politics of our time / John B. Judis.

Description: New York: Columbia Global Reports, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020058118 | ISBN 9781735913605 (hardcover)

Subjects: LCSH: World politics--21st century. | Populism. | Nationalism. | Socialism.

Classification: LCC D863 .J83 2021 | DDC 320.56/62--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020058118

Book design by Strick&Williams

Map design by Jeffrey L. Ward

Author photograph by Miranda Sita

Printed in the United States of America

To the memory of James Weinstein

Introduction
The Crisis of Our Time

Chapter One
What Is Populism, and Why Is It Important?

Chapter Two
The Logic of American Populism: From the Peoples Party to George Wallace

Chapter Three
Neoliberalism and Its Enemies: Perot, Buchanan, the Tea Party, and Occupy Wall Street

Chapter Four
The Silent Majority and the Political Revolution: Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders

Chapter Five
The Rise of European Populism