https://arab.news/zx5tm
In her by-election victory speech, the UK Green Party’s newly elected MP, Hannah Spencer, highlighted the link between economic insecurity and political discontent in the country and around the world. Work, she observed, no longer provides the stability it once did. People work hard but cannot put food on the table, buy their children school uniforms, turn on their heating or live off the pension they worked for.
The hardships Spencer described align closely with the indicators of financial insecurity I have studied for more than a decade. Taken together, they underscore the central role of economic strain in fueling the rise of both right- and left-wing populism across Europe.
Crucially, Spencer’s remarks did not refer only to extreme hardship. She also pointed to more ordinary, yet deeply felt, forms of financial insecurity, such as being unable “to dream about ever having a holiday.” No longer confined to the poorest households, these pressures are increasingly common among Europe’s middle class.
No longer confined to the poorest households, these pressures are increasingly common among Europe’s middle class.
