Fighting Populism by Rethinking Welfare

Nils Karlson
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Nils Karlson: The Ratio Institute, Postal: The Ratio Institute, P.O. Box 5095, SE-102 42 Stockholm, Sweden

No 390, Ratio Working Papers from The Ratio Institute

Abstract: Populism thrives on discontent. It could be anything from migration and xenophobia to globalization and welfare failures. Populists deliberately use such discontent to promote polarization by demonizing opponents and attacking media, established elites, courts etc. in the name of the "true people". As a consequence, democracy, the rule of law, and sound social and economic policies are undermined, with long-term disastrous effects. In many cases, however, the original discontent is caused by real policy failures that have not been properly solved. A major strategy for fighting back at the populist threats therefore must be to improve policy. This paper focuses on the policy failures of welfare states, a major source of discontent in many democracies. I argue that the concept of welfare has been captured and misinterpreted into government assistance programs, a presumption that needs to be abandoned and replaced by interpreting welfare as human flourishing, something that primarily can be promoted within markets and civil society, supported by a small, limited, and decent state.

Keywords: populism; discontent; welfare; welfare failures; human flourishing; limited government (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 H10 I38 P16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 22 pages
Date: 2026-01-23
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