The unsurprising rise of populism
Joseph Mariathasan
Director of GIST; Contributing Editor at IPE; Partner at Peak Sustainability Ventures; member of Advisory Boards of Moneyhub and of pinBox Solutions, Advisor to Bitelabs Healthtech
Poland has had the most successful 25 years in the last 400, declared Radek Sikorski, Poland’s former foreign minister in his keynote address at the IPE Conference & Awards in Berlin. As he pointed out, average salaries were now close to 70% of the EU average, and its GINI coefficient is dropping, indicating a more equal distribution of wealth.
Yet, despite the huge improvement in living standards and opportunities, Poland has also been in the first wave of European countries electing populist governments. Sikorski raised some profound issues that are worth debating, whether one agrees with them or not. He sees a commonality behind the factors leading to the current political situations in Poland, Brexit and Donald Trump’s election at president in the US.
See https://www.ipe.com/news/joseph-mariathasan-the-unsurprising-rise-of-populism/10016619.article