The anti-populist Left is pursuing the politics of provocation
In a completely novel departure, governments in democracies have stopped courting the electorate.
Forget triangulation, the Third Way, the Big Society, White Van Man, Worcester Woman and all the other dubious characterisations by which our politicians have in the past attempted to woo the electorate, to gain and retain power. All those former ploys have receded into the mists of time, to be superseded by a startling new concept. In Britain, Europe and North America those elements labelling themselves as “progressive” and “anti-populist”– in other words, the legacy parties – have evolved a brand-new approach to the electorate: the Politics of Provocation.