Deindustrialization and the Populist Challenge: Comparing East and West

What connection is there between deindustrialization and right-wing populism? What explains the political ascent, in such disparate places, of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Jarosław Kaczyński, and Brexit?

A number of hypotheses have been advanced to account for the rise of right-wing populism, including immigration and racial/identity politics, status anxiety and masculinity, the rise of social media, technological change and (lagging) educational levels. Additionally, the link between the loss of industrial jobs, and the resentments that process generates, is often hypothesized as a major force behind the current wave of right-wing populism. Yet there have been few attempts to explore this connection through structured cross-national comparison.

This seminar will present a theoretical argument for the impact of economic globalization on deindustrialized regions in particular, and the ways in which those regions account for a significant portion of populist backlash. It will then report on one ongoing research examining four rust-belt regions: Tolyatti in Russia; Katowice in Poland; Tyneside in the UK; and Cleveland in the US. These settings are quite different: Soviet-era industrialization followed by “shock therapy” in the “emerging markets” of Poland and Russia; prolonged deindustrialization in the “advanced capitalism” of the UK and US.

Despite considerable differences, these four cases have experienced substantial deindustrialization. All four have also seen the rise of a backward-looking politics that feeds on resentments connected to ethnic nationalism, immigration, and white-working class masculinity. This seminar will explore these similarities across difference.

The visit of Stephen Crowley is organized in collaboration with Stefano Bianchini from the Department of Political and Social Sciences.