OPINION

How populists win when they lose

News, Jan-Werner Mueller, Published on 21/06/2017

» Today, it appears that every single election in Europe can be reduced to one central question: "Is it a win or a loss for populism?" Until the Netherlands' election in March, a populist wave -- or, as Nigel Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence Party, put it, a "tsunami" -- seemed irresistible. Now, however, the wave has suddenly receded: following Emmanuel Macron's big wins in France's presidential and legislative elections, we are supposedly living in a "post-populist moment".