Research Paper on Globalization and Populism

Introduction

Social media is driving globalization and populism at the same time. Globalization is the aspect of integrating economies at an international level. Globalization, therefore, has an economic, social and cultural dimension. Platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are accessible from anywhere on the World Wide Web (Brown, 2015). It is with the widespread presence of social media that populist leaders such as Donald Trump and Sanders maximized on social media to advertise their campaigns. Social press anywhere in the world understands the contemporary populism and should therefore not be ignored due to its importance. Populism has consequently structured itself to match the contours of the modern day social media content landscape (McCutcheon, 2016). Globalization through social media is a significant driver of populism as the press provides a variety of resources that are easy to connect with and more accessible than the traditional sources of media.

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Globalization has led to the emergence of toxic or detrimental populism. Professor Michael Kimmel suggests that populism is based on anger or emotion and not purely on ideologies. It is on the same line of thought that we have the right and left wing of populism in the United States of America. Populism is based on opposing views and results to the idea of "us against them." The antagonism nature, therefore, leads to a divided and hostile nation especially through the social media (McCutcheon, 2016). Populists on the left wing act as a watchdog on powers of big businesses and banks. The right-wing populists, on the other hand, pretend to advocate for the right of ordinary citizens while in the real sense they are interested in protecting their interests in the big banks and business.

A few researchers are of the idea that populism is being driven by economies that lost as a result of globalization. For instance, data from Bureau of labor indicates that the United States has lost roughly five million employment opportunity from manufacturing firms. The loss of employment has been liked by a rise of immigrant workers, mainly from Mexico. Donald Trump, a populist leader, blames the loss of jobs on the North America free trade agreement of 1974 (McCutcheon, 2016). The agreement paved the way for the free movement of goods, human capital and financial resources between borders.

The idea of global trade intensified when China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. The enacting of relaxed trade restrictions coincided with the technology era (Inglehart, & Norris, 2016). The two occurrences led to the influx of immigrants in developed countries and at the same time technology rendered citizens of the developed countries jobless.

Populism to some extent is driven by cultural and racial anxieties rather than the economic consequences of globalization. A classic example of cultural anxiety is the concern of terrorism that has been on the rise for the last ten years. The promise to build a wall by Trump is to a put in place a temporary barrier to bar immigrants of Muslim origin from having free entry and exit to the United States (McCutcheon, 2016). Populist is of the idea that the free will to enter or exit is what led to the Afghan immigrants killing people at the nightclub in Orlando. There are also calls for final vetting of immigrants to determine whether they uphold and reflect the United States values or not. Demographics of trump supporters showed that cultural mistrust in other races was the most significant factor.

Populism based on nationality and control over borders is also evident in the United Kingdom. The Brexit vote was against excessive immigration. The number of legal annual immigrants is recorder to be ten times the number in 1993 (McCutcheon, 2016). The influx of immigrants also led to the loss of jobs to many Britons in addition to dilution of Briton culture and identity. The spread of populism in Europe is believed to be fueled by the ideological that appeal to indigenous values. Men, ethnic majorities, less educated and the older generation in the society is the sub-groups that uphold traditional values.

I am of the view that globalization does not drive populism. Comparing the populism in the United States and Europe, it is evident that the populist leaders are capitalizing on the deep mistrust of parties and politicians (Inglehart & Norris, 2016). Europeans and Americans are becoming less interested in the mainstream political parties and politicians than before (McCutcheon, 2016). The politicians have realized the loss of interest by the citizens in politics and the populists have identified issues that appeal to their division of supporters.

Populists such as Geert Wilders, Marine Le Pen, and Donald Trump have capitalized on increased immigration as the primary cause of crime and terrorism. The leaders simply echoed the views and wishes of their natives and used the immigration subjects a campaign tool. The natives, therefore, see the leaders as the only people who are championing for their rights and ideas (McCutcheon, 2016).

Populism fueled Brexit vote to some extent, but the primary motivator was the failure of political leadership. David Cameroon, the then prime minister of Britain, advocated for a referendum which he, unfortunately, lost. Britain had initially chosen not to be a member of the European Union and has for years had contradicting ideologies with the European Union.

Reference

Brown, H. (2015). Does globalization drive interest group strategy? A cross-national study of outside lobbying and social media. Journal Of Public Affairs, 16(3), 294-302. doi: 10.1002/pa.1590

Inglehart, R., & Norris, P. (2016). Trump, Brexit, and the Rise of Populism: Economic Have-Nots and Cultural Backlash. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2818659

McCutcheon, C. (2016, September 9). Populism and party politics. CQ researcher, 26, 721-744. Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/