Chris Patten reminds of the eminent danger far-right populists pose to liberal democracy. Although there is “no need to exaggerate,” and the “last act in the history of liberal democracy” is not yet written, populist extremists had stormed the stage and been successful in seducing ordinary people with their toxic ideology: Voters clamour for policies that were unthinkable in the past. Social tensions that had long simmered under the surface erupt into terrifying explosions.

According to the author, “there are enough signs of trouble to make sensible Americans and Europeans recall Europe’s slide into tyranny in the 1930s, and to resolve to act now to prevent anything like that from happening again. While crying wolf is rarely recommended, sometimes there really is a wolf skulking through the wood.” Liberals and mainstream politicians need to arrest the rise of authoritarianism and can not afford “to be so weak-minded.”

It is important to grasp the causes of popular discontent and rebuild democracy’s moral foundations. Since the 2008 global financial crisis, liberals had been blamed for “the encouragement of an unrestrained form of globalization that took little account of the social consequences of lower comparative labor costs in developing countries for workers in developed countries.” Popular grievances – job insecurity, decline in household income and living standards – are widespread.

The author points out “two other issues /that/ further discredited democratic governments. First, social inequity grew alarmingly in many countries, most notably the United States, leading citizens to question whether they lived in fair societies. Second, migration from poorer to richer countries, fueled by poverty and demographic factors, created tensions in developed economies. Living standards were squeezed, and people postponed their hopes for a better quality of life.”

This breeds xenophobia and anti-elitism among working class people in the West. China, riding on the wave of free trade, has become the world’s largest economy in purchasing-power-parity terms, lifting millions out of poverty. But critics blame Beijing for having “distorted international market rules to its own advantage.” Economic might had emboldened Beijing to be assertive, expecting the whole world to dance to its tune and seeking “to attack the promotion of Western constitutional democracy, universal values, civil society, and independent journalism.”

Yet political leaders in the West ingratiate themselves with Beijing, despite popular resentment towards China. According to the author Beijing’s “wolf diplomacy,” is nothing more than “often-bogus promises of trade deals or investment for countries that toe the line. Indeed, "China’s efforts have produced the sort of pre-emptive cringing in the West that itself erodes liberal-democratic values.” It is part of the common wisdom that the world must engage with China, but it “must be on terms that are fair to both sides. And deterrence needs to be real when necessary.”

In the West voters have long disliked particular parties, politicians or governments. Now many have become fed up with liberal democracy itself. Not only have they failed to mitigate the fallout from free trade, which propelled China to the world’s second largest economy in 2012, they had not improved their economic prospects as a result of globalisation.

The author says, “some now see a clash between illiberal democracy and undemocratic liberalism. Elites are thought to want to curb what they see as the irrational and undeliverable hopes of the majority, while the majority fights to overturn the checks and balances that moderate the popular will. A system of government that had seemed immutable looks as though it might come apart.” Indeed, until recently, liberal democracy reigned triumphant.

For all its shortcomings, most citizens seemed deeply committed to their form of government. The economy was growing. Radical parties were insignificant. Political scientists thought democracy in places like France or the US had long served as models for others, and would change little in the years to come. Politically speaking, it seemed, the future would not be much different from the past.

But Trump’s election to the White House in 2016 has been the most striking manifestation of democracy in crisis. It is difficult to overstate the significance of his rise. But it is hardly an isolated incident. In Russia and Turkey, elected strongmen have succeeded in turning fledgling democracies into electoral dictatorships. In Poland and Hungary, populist leaders are using the same playbook to destroy the free media, to undermine independent institutions and to muzzle the opposition.

It is time to fight back, or else the world would turn its clock back to the 1930s.