Populist upheavals like Trump, Brexit, and Marine Le Pen happen when the system really is rigged. Citizens the world over are angry not due to income inequality or immigration, but economic unfairness: the sense that opportunity is not equal and reward is not according to contribution. This forensic book draws on original research, cited by the UN and IMF, to demonstrate that illiberal populism strikes hardest when success is influenced by family origins rather than talent and effort. Protzer and Summerville propose a framework of policy inputs that instead support high social mobility, and apply it to diagnose the differing reasons behind economic unfairness in the US, UK, Italy, and France. By striving for a fair, socially-mobile economy, they argue, it is possible to craft a politics that reclaims the reasonable grievances behind populism.

Since the original publication of Reclaiming Populism in 2021 its predictions have continued to prove gravely accurate. Countries afflicted with low social mobility remain mired in political malaise, and in some cases verge on ungovernability. Those with high social mobility, like Canada and the Netherlands, have seen off populist challenges without systemic institutional disruption. Reclaiming Populism is a must-listen for policymakers, scholars, and citizens who want to bring disenchanted populist voters back into the fold of liberal democracy.