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External event

Conference

A new minority? Understanding today’s populism

Once at the middle of European and American societies, today’s white working class people have drifted to the margins and are reshaping the political landscape. How did this happen? Roland Freudenstein, Policy Director at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies, will join Justin Gest, Assistant Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government, in an in-depth discussion on populism.

Professor Justin Gest will report findings from original surveys and full-immersion fieldwork among the white working class people of once thriving industrial cities in the United States and the United Kingdom to draw conclusions about the origins of Donald Trump’s presidency, Brexit, and the prospect of a greater rightward shift in upcoming European elections. Roland Freudenstein will offer comments reflecting on the European centre-right’s answer to the rise of populism.