An Analysis Of The Status Quo And Influence Of Populism In American Politics

With the rapid development of the modern economy and turbulence of the international political structure,populism trends and movements have erupted all over the world successively.It usually has the effect of issuing early warning signals for political crises.In recent years,a new round of populism is being staged in the United States.Based on the systematic explanation of the concept of populism,this article further analyzes the current populism in American politics,which is divided into four parts:The first part expounds the conception of populism.Populism originated in the Russian Narodniks and the American "People's Party" movement in the late 19 th century.It is extremely controversial in concept,and its core ideas are "believing in people" and "opposing the elite".There had three populist crazes worldwide:populism in Russia and America in the mid-to-late 19 th to early 20 th centuries,populism in Latin America in the 1930 s to 1960 s,and populism in developed capitalist countries of Europe and America from the late 20 th to the present.The second part sorts out the populist status quo in American history and the current stage.Populist genes are inherent in American representative democracy.Usually in times of crisis in American society,populism awakens the "silent majority",triggers anti-elite and anti-institutional social movements.The economic crisis caused by the Great Depression in the 1930 s,the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960 s,and the industrial transfer in the 1990 s created three charismatic populist leaders,include Huey Long,George Wallace and Ross Perot.Entering the 21 st century,the global financial crisis has left a profound "sequelae" to America.Right-wing populism represented by the "Tea Party" movement and Donald Trump,left-wing populism represented by the "Occupy Wall Street" movement and Bernie Sanders,broke out one after another.The last two sections further analyze the causes and influence of the current populist outbreak.The failure of governance under the representative democratic system,economic inequality under Economic Globalization,the crisis of identity under multiculturalism,and the interaction of new mobilization methods brought about by the information technology revolution have prompted the outbreak ofAmerican populism.This “resurgence” of populism,on the one hand,will prompt political elites to reflect on the lack of function of the democratic political system in America,and on the other hand,will bring America the risk of increased social differentiation.At the international level,Trump's foreign policy based on "American First" has challenged the process of economic globalization and the existing international order.