Thank you for that insight. Yes, all over the world. But of course there have always been demagogues. Still, in a hundred years (if historians are still around to write) I think this period will be compared to the 1930s, when demagoguery was like a contagion. Why? I guess we can see some common threads, but I think we'll need a hundred years to see those causes/patterns clearly.
I very much appreciate your feedback.
Someone was arguing that these patterns are like waves. It comes and goes. but doesn't disappear altogether.
My Internet connection went down just as I was replying last night...glad it did because I remembered a statement from one of my references this morning:
I'm not sure that's true, but what it does address is that some environments are more receptive to demagoguery. I would guess (no study to cite) that a discontented population is one of those environments. When people are unhappy they look for extreme solutions, and scapegoats. Demagogues offer that. The level of discontentment rises and falls over time, and so perhaps the "waves" of demagoguery. Of course, this is just conjecture :)
Same thoughts here too..