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Midterms' new populism: Taking on health industries
Anxiety over health care costs is driving a new brand of populism and talk about taking on health industries.
From politics to portfolios: the market impact of rising populism
Populism has become part of the global landscape, rooted in frustrations over inequality, stagnant mobility, and a sense that mainstream policymakers have failed to adapt to shifting economic realities.
The New Health Care Populism
Fear over rising costs is fueling bipartisan motivation to confront drug companies, insurers, and pharmacy benefit managers directly, with candidates on both sides racing to appear stronger on those areas than their opponents rather than litigating the Affordable Care Act. Republicans have been espe
Why Spencer Pratt’s Grievance Politics Are More L.A. Than You Think
The reality star, who recently memed himself as the antihero from revenge thriller ‘Falling Down,’ seeks to upturn the Los Angeles liberal establishment with backlash-fueled populism. He’s not the first.
Zack Polanski’s Eco-Populism Could Do With More Socialism
A year since the Green Party of England and Wales elected Zack Polanski as leader, its membership has nearly quadrupled. His rise speaks to dissatisfaction with Labour but also the difficulty building...
Reform and the UAE – a threat to British politics
By Alex Carlen The United Arab Emirates likes to present itself as part of the solution to the climate crisis. The oil-rich Gulf state has committed to Net Zero by 2050, hosted COP 28, and even declared “championing climate action” as one of three strategic objectives for this week’s session of the United Nations General Assembly. But behind the scenes the UAE has quietly built one of its closest political relationships in Europe with the party most hostile to climate action in Britain: Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. There is no evidence that the UAE is funding Reform. But a new FairSquare report, Petro-populism: the UAE–Reform threat, published today, documents a growing political relationship that should concern anyone interested in the integrity of British democracy. Reform’s leaders have embraced the UAE’s political model and promoted positions that align closely with the Emirati government’s priorities, while the UAE has given Farage and his party unusually warm access and public backing. What is emerging is not simply a relationship between British politicians and a wealthy Gulf state, but a channel through which an authoritarian government can cultivate political influence here, and abroad. Democracy for Sale relies on its readers. If you already support us, thanks so much. If you don’t, sign up to support fearless independent investigative journalism. Subscribe Back in January, Nigel Farage appeared at a GB News event in Dubai. On the 50th floor of a tower overlooking the luxury resorts and upscale residences of Palm Jumeirah, the Reform leader declared: “I want Clacton to look like this.” At the event – which Farage never declared on his official register of interests – senior Emirati officials mixed with British expats. Farage was keen to flatter. “We recognise you are our friends”, he said, assuring them that “a Brexit London, a Reform London, will remember you.” Controversy surrounding Reform’s finances and its susceptibility to foreign influence have centred around high-profile donations from billionaire crypto donors, and the jailing of Nathan Gill, Reform’s former leader in Wales, for accepting bribes to give pro-Russia speeches. Far less attention has been paid to Reform’s blossoming new alliance with the UAE, an oil-rich authoritarian state with a track record of ruinous anti-democratic interventions. Farage wasn’t always so fond of the UAE. Back in 2023 he called it an “absolute monarchy with an abysmal human rights record.” Now Reform’s hierarchy calls the UAE home. Deputy leader Richard Tice splits his time between his constituency and Dubai and has called on the UK to learn from the UAE. The party’s treasurer Nick Candy runs a firm which has been in partnership with a UAE-state linked firm since 2024. Nadhim Zahawi sits on the board of an Abu Dhabi think tank alongside an array of the most senior UAE officials and is reportedly close to three brothers of the country’s despotic ruler Mohammed Bin Zayed. Reform’s leading lights have effusively praised the UAE’s governance model, defended it from criticism, and advanced its political agenda in the UK. GB News, whose two major shareholders – the Legatum Foundation and Paul Marshall – have strong links to the UAE, has been more than happy to broadcast UAE propaganda and was forced to pay damages in 2025 after airing a false claim about a UK charity by the UAE “disinfluencer” Amjad Taha. The UAE has responded in kind. When the UAE Minister for Foreign Affairs conducted an official visit to the UK in May, Farage was the only non-government figure granted an audience. UAE state media publicised the meeting, and said that they discussed “the strategic relations between the two countries and ways to enhance them in a manner that serves mutual interests.” For the UAE these ‘mutual interests’ largely concern its paranoia over political Islam, and in this regard the UAE-Reform alliance is part of a broad and troubling pattern. Following a crackdown on dissent at home in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, the UAE has offered material and political support to a range of violent and authoritarian actors willing to oppose the Muslim Brotherhood with no regard for the consequences. Its meddling in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, and most notably Sudan, have been devastating. The UAE’s strategy of seeking out partners on the political fringes who it believes will advance its interests is not unique to Britain – it extends beyond the Middle East to Europe and the US. In France, it has offered clandestine support to Marine Le Pen through secret meetings, as well allegedly funding trips to the region after which Le Pen returned with a renewed focus on the UAE’s perceived enemies – Qatar and the Muslim Brotherhood. Left-wing opposition leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon has accused the UAE of smearing him and of “encouraging discrimination, hatred or violence”. In the US, the UAE actively supported the rise of Donald Trump, establishing itself as a key ally during both his first and second terms. Around these relationships sits a wider ecosystem of figures willing to amplify UAE narratives, that even extends to Andrew Tate and Tommy Robinson. Subscribe In Britain, the UAE has used a combination of aggressive diplomacy and illicit, disruptive tactics to achieve its policy goal of eliminating any perceived threat from political Islam. In 2012, for instance, it threatened to block billion-pound arms deals with the UK and stop inward investment if David Cameron did not act against the Muslim Brotherhood and rein in the BBC’s coverage of the group – going so far as to suggest, with no supporting evidence, that the group had infiltrated the BBC. It has financed smear campaigns against a high-profile UK charity and funded a mercenary to secretly surveil, and possibly assassinate, a British national on British soil. In Reform UK, the UAE has finally found an ally willing to not only ban the Muslim Brotherhood, but to publicly vilify the group and repeat the UAE’s claims that dangerous Muslims are a fifth column in British society, a narrative that aligns with the Islamophobia and anti-immigration sentiments that underpin Reform’s populist politics. The Rycroft review into foreign interference concluded that “hostile states and non-state actors have a clear incentive to attempt to undermine UK democracy.” The UAE’s network and alliance with Reform must be understood within that framework. It is a powerful, disruptive and deeply authoritarian actor with the resources and networks to intervene in our politics, and a track-record of doing so in a multitude of other countries. The evidence of the threat the UAE poses is overwhelming. The question is whether parliamentarians are willing to call the UAE out and demand action using the tools that the government has to respond. Placing the UAE on the “Enhanced Tier” of the Foreign Registration scheme alongside Russia and Iran would send a powerful signal to the UAE that its meddling will no longer be tolerated, and would place Farage’s next trips to the UAE under the scrutiny they deserve. Alex Carlen is research and advocacy manager at London based human rights organisation FairSquare and author of its new report Petro-populism: the UAE–Reform threat. Subscribe
Appendix B: Classifying European political parties
Classifying parties as populist Although experts generally agree that populist political leaders or parties display high levels of anti-elitism, definitions of populism vary. We use three measures to classify parties as populist: anti-elite ratings from the 2024 Chapel Hill Expert Survey (CHES), the 2023 Populism and Political Parties Expert Survey (POPPA) and the 2023 PopuList. […]
Populism is plain to see all around us
Letters: The characteristics include attachments to authoritarian regimes including the one based in the Kremlin, writes Kevin Lloyd; plus a letter from Peter Gray
Vandalism, populism and a rise in state tourism: CT politics news
Murphy maps out his vision of ‘economic populism.’ State tourism had a big year. And vandalism at the Nathan Hale Homestead in Coventry.
What can this Chicago professor tell us about violent populism?
A new book warns of the danger of accepting political violence as a regular part of democratic society.
A Decade After Brexit, British Politics Is Coming Apart
The rise of populism and increasingly radical leftism could be a foretaste of the American political future.
What Andy Burnham’s first speech as Labour leader tells us
The incoming prime minister showed his oratorical skill and that he is prepared to borrow from populism
Letters to the Editor: Yes, political extremists are dangerous, but more so when they’re in power
'Wingnuts are dangerous, but mainstream wingnuts even more so. It’s time we all wake up to the reality that there is nothing conservative about MAGA populism,' writes an L.A. Times reader.
‘Trump’s not enough. And he knows he’s not enough’: California governor Gavin Newsom on populism, ‘purity tests’ and whether he’ll run for the presidency
He’s the Democratic politician with movie-star looks and a picture-perfect family, dogged by accusations of being a smooth‑talking elitist. Can he really unite the American left and win the most powerful office in the world?
Appendix B: Classifying European political parties
Classifying parties as populist Although experts generally agree that populist political leaders or parties display high levels of anti-elitism, definitions of populism vary. We use three measures to classify parties as populist: anti-elite ratings from the 2024 Chapel Hill Expert Survey (CHES), the 2023 Populism and Political Parties Expert Survey (POPPA) and the 2023 PopuList. […]
Populist Waves in the Americas: Redefining Politics and Democracy
A surge in populist leadership across the Americas is promising simplified solutions, risking democratic checks and human rights.
Ocasio-Cortez took her populism global. Will she take her politics national?
Speculation is — once again — stirring about a potential Oval Office bid after the progressive star made her first visit to the Munich Security Conference.
A Tectonic (or Techtonic) Shift in American Politics?
Culture-war populism looks to be giving way to economic populism.
Mike Pence To Speak At UChicago’s Institute Of Politics In April
Pence will participate in a student-moderated panel and is expected to speak about the role of the executive branch, populism and more.
Texas Democrats welcome Bernie Sanders and plunge into economic populism
In speeches and conversations throughout the convention, Texas Democrats embraced affordability and anti-corruption themes championed by the Independent senator from Vermont.
Democrats Wrestle With Race, Populism and Ideology in Clashes With Lawmakers of Color
WASHINGTON (AP) — After democratic socialist Claire Valdez defeated an establishment-backed candidate in New York's congressional primary last week, her elated supporters quickly turned their attention to a new target. “You're next!” they chanted when an image of House Democratic leader Hakeem ...
It’s time to retire ‘rigged system’ populism
Populist theatrics, divorced from the prosaic work of consensus-building and problem-solving, degenerate into political escapism.
Confused by Trump-Mamdani Bromance? It’s the Power of Populism | WSJ Politics Newsletter for Feb. 27
Plus, the Fed quietly pushes back on DOJ subpoenas, and Hillary Clinton tells GOP-led panel she knew nothing about Epstein’s crimes
Democrats wrestle with race, populism and ideology in clashes with lawmakers of color
The Democratic Party is confronting its long-standing dilemmas over identity and ideology as it wrestles with populist challengers in communities of color.
It’s been 10 years since the Malheur armed standoff shook Oregon and national politics
Here’s a look at the Jan. 2, 2016 takeover that launched the age of confrontational populism in the U.S.
Trump may be in political trouble. But Trump-style global populism isn’t
President Donald Trump might be in a political hole, but his brand of conservative populist nationalism is flourishing across the globe.
Anti-populism is reshaping American politics
Democrats are winning on data center opposition. So are Republicans.
Zack Polanski offering voters fantasy solutions, says head of Fabian Society
Joe Dromey, head of the Labour thinktank, urges his party to take on the ‘twin populisms’ of Reform UK and the Greens
‘Pitchfork Populism’ Over Data Centers Rattles Ohio’s U.S. Senate Race
The issue, which barely registered with candidates last year, looms large in a race that could determine control of Congress.
Paul Ryan: Current state of politics ‘fundamentally unserious’
Former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) blasted the current state of American politics, arguing that both parties have focused on embracing populism rather than serious efforts to rein in the natio…
Why the Democrats' Path Back to Power Runs Through the Kitchen Table
A unique new messaging study underscores the supremacy of economic populism in rural America and beyond.
The Risks of Democrats Embracing Eat-the-Rich Populism
The more President Donald Trump stumbles while trying to talk about affordability — Wednesday night’s bizarre speech was just the latest example — the more Democrats believe they have a winning issue in next year’s midterm elections. And why not? Trump’s approval rating on the economy is the lowest it has ever been, and a string of polls show many Americans are angry and worried about stubbornly high prices for groceries, housing and utilities.
Mulvaney addresses future of politics and populism at Brooks School event
Director Mick Mulvaney, the 2025–26 Nixon Distinguished Policy Fellow, delivered a keynote on the rise of populism in America to a full lecture hall of Cornell students, highlighting shifts in U.S. politics and engaging in wide-ranging discussion on contemporary policy challenges.
Ways to save liberal democracy — the pick of the latest political books
A welcome shot of serious thought about populism, a bold argument for citizen rule, Gordon Brown revisited — and a work by Cass Sunstein that all politicians should digest
In Paxton, Cornyn runoff, Texas Republicans face disappointment
The Texas Senate runoff between John Cornyn and Ken Paxton highlights a Republican Party torn between establishment pragmatism and combative populism.
Cyprus: YouTuber takes direct democracy push to polls
Cypriot YouTuber and MEP Fidias Panayiotou wants to disrupt his country's political system. His digital-first Direct Democracy movement is seen by some as democratic renewal, by others as social media populism.
Science|Business summer reads of 2026
As most people in the European research and innovation policy bubble are going on a well-deserved summer break, we have come up with a list of our favourite books, podcasts and essays from the past year that ask deeper questions about science, technology and politics.BooksPasteur’s Quadrant: Basic Science and Technological Innovation, by Donald StokesIf you haven’t read Pasteur’s Quadrant yet, now is the time. In the EU and elsewhere, we’re living through a period of dwindling faith that curiosity-driven research automatically leads to economic growth and technological progress. Pasteur’s Quadrant, published in 1997 by the Princeton academic Donald Stokes, is the most influential critique of the standard “linear model” of R&D: the idea that new discoveries made in ivory-tower labs get neatly passed on for commercialisation by start-ups. In reality, Stokes argues, practical applications often inspire more theorical lines of inquiry. Of course, we have long known that things are more complex than the linear model, but even today, it’s still often assumed in Brussels discourse. The book is a useful corrective, and is being used now to argue for new types of scientific institutions. David MatthewsThe Weaponization of Expertise: How Elites Fuel Populism, by Jacob Hale Russel and Dennis PattersonAre society’s problems solvable by technical expertise alone? “If only the benighted would listen,” say Jacob Hale Russel and Dennis Patterson, two professors at Rutgers Law School who got frustrated with how scientists and politicians handled public health communication during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the book, they argue that clichéd mantras about scientific evidence and expertise perpetrated by academics, journalists and politicians have harmed public trust in the very institutions they were trying to defend. Paradoxically, slogans such as “we believe in science,” “follow the science” and “defer to the experts” can fuel mistrust in science, experts and democratic institutions. The authors criticise “condescension” and “technocratic paternalism” in the public discourse and make the case for a more nuanced approach to scientific and expert policy advice that rests on humility, doubt, scepticism and open dialogue. “Most complex social questions in fact revolve around values, not the recitation of unambiguous facts,” they say. Florin ZubascuBreakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future, by Dan WangIn this book, Dan Wang compares the structural differences between the US and Chinese industrial policies, but raises a very timely question for innovation policy wonks: how can advanced manufacturing know-how contribute to technology-intensive economic growth? Wang says technology has three components: the tools, the blueprints and patents, and the process knowledge. The third component represents the “proficiency gained from practical experience, which isn’t easily communicated and requires years of implementation.” According to Wang, rather than seeing tools and blueprints as the ultimate ends of technological progress, policymakers should see them as milestones in the training of better scientists and manufacturers. Over the past decades, China has amassed “process knowledge” because capital flowed to complex fabrication facilities, while investors in the West have parked their money in capital-light businesses such as digital platforms or chip companies that focus on design. As it turns out, thanks to its oversized focus on manufacturing, China has gained remarkable advantages in the global technology race. Florin ZubascuBaltic: The Future of Europe, by Oliver MoodyWhat can Europe learn from the nine countries surrounding the Baltic Sea? Alongside the familiar stories about Estonia's digital transformation, the book examines how the region has used technology, resilience, education, governance and long-term thinking to respond to geopolitical, economic and security challenges. Innovation policy wonks might find fresh perspectives on how innovation can strengthen defence, societal resilience and Europe's capacity to adapt in an uncertain world. Whether or not you agree with all of Oliver Moody's conclusions, the book is a useful guide to a region that is increasingly shaping European debates on security, competitiveness and technology. Goda NaujokaityteThe Invention of Nature, by Andrea Wulf This book chronicles the wild and adventurous life of natural science pioneer Alexander von Humboldt who at some point in the 19th century seems to have been just about the most famous person in the world. Through scientific expeditions to the Andes Mountains and to the depths of Siberia, von Humboldt contributed a host of discoveries and concepts. During his life he met and formed relationships with historical figures as different as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Simon Bolivar, Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon Bonaparte and Charles Darwin. He is also claimed to be the person in the world with most things named after him, a list that includes an ocean current, a penguin and a region of the Moon. Still venerated in Germany, with numerous scientific institutions named after him, von Humboldt has slipped out of public consciousness in most of the rest of the world. For anyone not familiar with him, this book does a good job of describing his fascinating life. Ole EllekrogCareless People, by Sarah Wynn-WilliamsYou may have heard this referred to as the book Meta doesn’t want you to read. The 2025 memoir from Sarah Wynn-Williams, former director of global public policy at Meta, then just called Facebook, includes explosive claims about everything from a toxic workplace culture to how the company worked with advertisers to target vulnerable teens, and the lengths it was prepared to go to in order to break into China. It’s a fascinating insight into how and why the tech company gradually shifted its approach to policy, whether in the US, Europe or Asia. Meta has denied the allegations in the book, and last year won an emergency ruling to prevent Wynn-Williams from promoting it. In response, the author is now suing her former employer. If that doesn’t make you want to read it. Martin GreenacrePodcastsThe Europeans: Europe’s anti-ElonThis podcast is a great choice for a light-hearted dose of European policy and culture news. Most of it has little to do with research, innovation and technology, but this particular podcast features an interview with Mastadon’s founder Eugen Rochko. He talks about his experience running an open-source, federated, European-made social media platform, and leaving it all behind. The conversation, which starts 14 minutes in, gently encourages us to reflect on what kind of technology we, as Europeans, want to make. Goda NaujokaityteSolarpunk and how we escape dystopiaNew technologies are very often taken from science fiction. Alberto Santos-Dumont, inventor the airship, was inspired as a child by the adventure stories of Jules Verne. OpenAI’s attempt to build a personal assistant with the voice of Scarlett Johansson was lifted from the 2013 film Her, completely ignoring the movie’s cautionary message. So if we want better tech, we need to imagine it first. Unfortunately, the state of current sci-fi is relentlessly dystopian, giving inventors precious few ideas or hope. However, a new genre, Solarpunk, which envisages a technologically advanced but ecologically harmonious future, is now taking off. The actual tech the genre imagines, such as permaculture, renewable energy or community repair workshops, while nice, isn’t all that inspiring or ambitious. But it’s a first step towards rescuing sci-fi from its pessimistic Blade Runner rut. David MatthewsEveryday AbundanceLaunched in June, Everyday Abundance is a podcast that tells the stories of the inventions we now take so for granted that we barely given them a second thought. For example, the washing machine, which liberated women from a lifetime “bent over washtubs and washboards.” Or modern dentistry, which ended the reality that “tooth pain was simply part of human life.” Historians of technology, Virginia Postrel and Charles C Mann are very much on the optimistic end of the spectrum when it comes to the capacity of invention to improve human life. Here, they set out their case: if it wasn’t for progress, you might be hunched over a washtub with toothache rather than reading these words. David Matthews‘We will not know what we lost’: Conservation fallout a year after USAID shutdownSince his return to the White House, Donald Trump has been on a mission to undermine science. He slashed jobs at federal agencies, terminated grants in some research areas, took unprecedented control over university affairs and, within hours of his inauguration, suspended the US Agency for International Development. While its initial focus was to administer health and food aid around the world, it had since expanded to conservation projects. The result? Some of these projects were stopped abruptly. In this Mongabay podcast, environmental reporter Michelle Nijhuis tells the story of the EcoGuard conservation programme in Liberia, whose local patrols had helped protect rainforests, monitor endangered wildlife and track illegal threats. From one day to the next, these were left without salaries. Luckily, she notes, the initiative was able to get emergency funding from international NGOs, but its future remains “incredibly uncertain.” Juliette PortalaEssaysThe Mars Delusion, by Henry WismayerWhy is humankind so fixated on establishing a colony on Mars? asks London-based writer Henry Wismayer. From space evangelists promoting Martian settlement as an insurance policy, to billionaire Jeff Bezos, who said humans should settle on Mars “because it’s cool,” the mission is not running short of advocates. However, in this essay, Wismayer reminds us that some critics expect any future Mars pioneer to end up “irradiated, sick, mad and dead.” Scientists have already looked into the possible effects of prolonged exposure to Martian gravity, and it’s not pretty: muscle shrinking, bones weakening, changes to the central nervous system and other biological modifications to make us all reconsider the journey. “Some researchers have forecast that the future settler, after generations of evolutionary conditioning, will look less like an Übermensch and more like ET,” Wismayer writes. Juliette Portala
GOP Iowa governor candidate Zach Lahn touts economic populism at event
Republican governor candidate Zach Lahn presented an agenda to Iowa business leaders that he said was built around an “economic sort of populism.\
More populism, pro-Russian votes and TikTok politics. What Latvia’s election results reveal
This time, Latvia’s parliamentary elections were fairly calm, delivering a pro-European result without any unexpected Russian influence operations or major scandals.
Water As a Political Weapon: Populism and The Indus Waters Treaty
When Pakistan’s Field Marshal Asim Munir addressed the 276th Corps Commanders’ Conference at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi on 6 July 2026, he stated that the country would take “all [...]
Schmidt Gives Keynote Address for Political Trust Conference
Professor Vivien Ann Schmidt gave the opening keynote address, titled Political Trust and Legitimacy in the Age of Populism, for the Political Trust conference, organized by CEVIPOF at the French Political Science School at Sciences Po in Paris on December 5, 2025. This year’s conference, named Political Trust: A Challenge for Democracies, brought together researchers from…