Today I’m speaking with Matthew Goodwin who’s a Professor of Politics at Rutherford College, University of Kent. His latest book National populism: The Revolt Against Liberal Democracy (Penguin UK 2018), written together with political scientist Roger Eatwell, is one of the best books to read if one wants to understand the political currents in contemporary Europe. He recently joined Substack and I highly recommend giving him a follow if you’re interested in politics, populism and the challenges to democracy.
The last week or so I’ve been embroiled in a debate on Twitter and in Dagens Nyheter over whether the Sweden Democrats are fascist or not, which is a debate that never seems to go away. I’ve been wanting to get Matthew Goodwin on the podcast for quite some time, so it’s a happy coincidence that we timed our talk with this debate over fascism. (If you missed it, this is my first response to my critics. The second will be published tomorrow.)
I ask him about how one can distinguish between national populism and fascism. We also talk about the implosion of the conservative party in Britain, the space for a third party in Britain, about wokeism and what to do about it, and why Gen Z seems to go left in the anglosphere but to the right in Sweden. I hope you enjoy the programme!
Utgivaren ansvarar inte för kommentarsfältet. (Myndigheten för press, radio och tv (MPRT) vill att jag skriver ovanstående för att visa att det inte är jag, utan den som kommenterar, som ansvarar för innehållet i det som skrivs i kommentarsfältet.)
Are we witnessing the return of fascism, Matt Goodwin?