Populism and Environmentalism

Abstract

In Europe, populist parties are winning plenty of consensus. Also in the U.S. protest movements are becoming more and more active. An analysis of the populist movements’ background and values is presented to evaluate how they may relate to the environmentalist movements. The two traditional political groups – conservative/libertarians and progressive/welfarists – whose conflict dominated the twentieth century politics now often ally to contrast the emerging populist movements, no matter how confused and diverse they are. Where does environmentalism fit in this new political framework?