Is the world undergoing a fundamental political realignment?  In this episode of the 'Solutions With David Ansara' podcast, I speak with economic historian, Stephen Davies, of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in the United Kingdom. 

We discuss the new political alignment and what this means for societies around the world.  Davies argues that political competition tends to revolve around a single binary, with political actors coalescing into broad coalitions on either side of a dominant aligning issue.   

The 'old' political alignment of the 1960s to the 2010s was characterised primarily by a debate over the role of the state in the economy (along with a secondary aligning issue of whether the government should regulate people's personal lives, or adopt a more socially liberal approach).  

However, over the past five years, a new binary has emerged, with questions of identity now the defining issue of modern politics. The new division is between those who favour cosmopolitan globalism, and those who are hostile to globalisation and who want to reassert "the local, the particular and, above all, the national," Davies says.  

This latter kind of politics is sometimes described as 'populist', but Davies prefers the term 'national collectivist'. This combines a strongly dirigiste economic policy with an antipathy towards economic globalisation, including strict controls on immigration, trade protectionism, and an emphasis on the economic role of the state.  

We also discuss how the Global Financial Crisis caused a loss of confidence in political elites; the problem with adopting a technocratic approach to politics; why Brexit happened (and how it changed British politics); the importance of bottom-up solutions to contemporary social problems; the benefits of open borders; and how to win the intellectual argument for liberalism.

TIMESTAMPS  

(00:00) Introduction

(00:34) Stephen Davies on the old political alignment

(05:55) Stephen Davies on the global financial crisis

(12:22) Stephen Davies on the new political alignment

(20:57) Stephen Davies on Brexit

(25:57) Stephen Davies on managing the fallout of creative destruction

(32:27) Stephen Davies on bottom-up approaches to politics

(37:47) Stephen Davies on open borders

(46:27) Stephen Davies on pandemics

(51:18) Stephen Davies on making politics more local

(54:08) Stephen Davies on winning the battle of ideas

(57:18) Conclusion  

RESOURCES  

'The Economics and Politics of Brexit: The Realignment of British Public Life' by Stephen Davies 

'Immigration and Freedom' by Chandran Kukathas

VIDEO

WATCH this episode on YouTube