Bad Policies Brew Poisonous Politics
Why are nontraditional political parties and factions, many of them extremist, gaining strength in Europe and elsewhere？ The outcomes in recent local elections in Britain were stunning. They underscore a trend thats been building for years, not only in the U.K. but in almost all other well-established democracies: Radicalism is on the rise. Britain‘s two traditional ruling parties—Labour and Conservative—were smashed. Labour suffered its lowest percentage of the popular vote in more than a century. The Conservatives, who had had their worst electoral performance in 2024’s national elections, failed to make a comeback—in fact, they lost ground. In the U.S. a significant portion of the public regards both major political parties with disdain. Most voters think the country is going in the wrong direction. The approval rating of Germany‘s Chancellor Friedrich Merz is the worst since democracy was reestablished there after World War II. France’s floundering President Emmanuel Macron isnt doing much better. In Japan, a country never noted for its feminist sensitivities, the long-ruling party has turned to a woman, Sanae Takaichi. Promising a radical break from the past and stoutly resisting bullying from Beijing, she won a landslide electoral victory. But can she pull Japan out of its long economic rut？ The
