In one week from today, we will gather to ask the burning question of our moment in history: will populist, anti-immigration sentiments take hold of Canadian politics?
Attend • Panelists • Debaters • Musicians • Partners • Followup
Be sure to check out the event details and panelist biographies for our May 29th debate. We have an incredible lineup of speakers who will bring a breadth of perspectives to the issue.
For your consideration…
Some thought-provoking theories and analyses on the roots, impact, and future of populism around the world:
Be it resolved, the liberal international order is over…”
“Since the end of World War II, global affairs have been shaped by the increasing free movement of people and goods, international rules setting, and a broad appreciation of the mutual benefits of a more interdependent world. Together these factors defined the liberal international order and sustained an era of rising global prosperity and declining international conflict. But now, for the first time in a generation, the pillars of the liberal internationalism are being shaken to their core by the reassertion of national borders, national interests, and nationalist politics across the globe. Can liberal internationalism survive these challenges and remain the defining rules-based system of the future? Or, are we witnessing the beginning of the end of the liberal international order?”
The Rise of the Anti-Establishment: Where do we go from here?
“When the housing crisis blew up in 2008, people started to understand that there were fundamental flaws in the economy. As the government bailed out the banks, Americans began to see the unfairness of the economic system…”
Globalized Anger: The Enlightenment’s Unwanted Child
“We should really look at the modern world as constituted by sameness and similarity rather than religious, cultural, theological difference… We have to move away from thinking of terror or violence as being specific to a particular religious community, or a particular part of the world. We have seen this over and over again erupt in all parts of the world. And we have to locate the sources of this violence in specific social, economic factors: we cannot really bring in religious scriptures, or indeed stereotypes about religious communities into our frameworks of analysis. If we do that, we are making a huge mistake.”
The Populist Revolt
“Several decades of greater economic and cultural openness in the West have not benefited all our citizens. David Goodhart argues that among those who have been left behind, a populist politics of culture and identity has successfully challenged the traditional politics of Left and Right. He suggests that a new division has been created: between the mobile ‘achieved’ identity of the people from Anywhere, and the marginalised, roots-based identity of the people from Somewhere.”