After a year of dramatic referendums and political upsets, it is clear that 2017 will be a serious
change of pace for the Western world.
The five largest western economies, being the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany,
France, and Italy, have all seen big changes in their governments within the last year.
And only one member: Germany has any chance of keeping its current leader.
So, who exactly are the new Western leaders of 2017?
Well, first let’s take a look at who is leaving their role as head of government.
In the United Kingdom, a referendum to separate from the European Union passed, causing Prime
Minister David Cameron to step down after supporting the effort to stay.
The United States has seen a dramatic shift of ideology from Democratic president Barack
Obama to Republican Donald Trump in the 2016 election.
In France, current President Francois Hollande (Fran-zwa - Holand) has said he will not seek
re-election in 2017, following his tenure as one of the most unpopular presidents in
French history.
And in Italy, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi tendered his resignation after a referendum
on consolidating power in government didn’t pass.
Even German Chancellor Angela Merkel is seeing some of her lowest approval ratings in five
years, around 45 percent.
This sweeping change in the highest reaches of global politics reflects one, ongoing theme;
populism.
Many of the the newest leaders, or potential leaders are either further right than their
predecessors, or rapid departures from the past few years of rule.
The new UK Prime Minister, Theresa May, is of the Conservative Party, just like Cameron.
However she did not push as hard to stay in the EU, and is considered anti-immigration,
with her administration floating plans to force companies to create lists of foreign
workers in their employ, an idea which some are calling “racist”.
In the United States, President-elect Donald Trump is supported by the growing alt-right,
which has been associated with white supremacy, and even fascist sentiments.
While French President Hollande, of the Socialist Party, has not yet left office, the primary
opposition frontrunner for the April 2017 election is center-right leaning François
Fillon, who has been described as “the right of the right”.
Polling behind Fillon is Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Front, a nationalist, anti-immigration
party that has been called racist and antisemitic.
As for Italy, the new Prime Minister, Paolo Gentiloni is of the same Democratic Party
as the former PM.
The country will likely see a new election in or before 2018..
However, the failure of the referendum that ousted Renzi pointed to the growing popularity
of the Five Star Movement, a populist, anti-establishment, Eurosceptic party, which has said it is neither
left nor right wing.
Still, the party’s presence and success is a strong deviation from traditional Italian
politics.
But there are still parts of the world where the opposite is happening.
Austria, for example, will see a new left leaning candidate as President, Alexander
Van der Bellen, after years of centrist rule.
His defeated opponent, Norbert Hofer, is considered a far right nationalist, and has said that
Islam has no place in Austria, and that the country would hold a referendum on independence
is Turkey was allowed into the EU.
Austrian voters rejected this narrative in what has been called “a heavy defeat of
nationalism and anti-European, backward-looking populism.”
Still, for most major Western powers, 2016 saw the unprecedented, and by many accounts
unexpected rise of anti-establishment sentiments..
Although there are still more elections to be held in 2017, this changeover represents
a break in the status quo for much of the world.
Brexit, the election of Donald Trump, Italy’s Five Star Movements and many other recent
political shake-ups are all a result of populist sentiments.
But what even is populism?
Find out in this video.
In Europe, it's generally more popular on the ideological right, which believes that
socialists or left-leaning policies negate the collective will of the people.
This was the idea behind the 2016 Brexit referendum.
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