Voters are fed up with career politicians. Instead, so-called “outsiders” are winning election after election, often on promises of tackling corruption and injecting fresh ideas into broken political systems. Authenticity is valued over experience.

Former reality TV star (and current US President) Donald Trump is the most high-profile celebrity politician, but we can also see the trend at work in Ukraine’s recent landslide election of TV comic Volodymyr Zelensky. In a bizarre case of life imitating art, Zelensky is the star of a hit Ukrainian show about an ordinary high school teacher unexpectedly being elected President of Ukraine.

Of course, celebrity politicians are nothing new. Ronald Reagan had a career in Hollywood before he entered politics; Arnold Schwarzenegger served two terms as the “Governator” of California, and former Polish President Lech Kaczyński and his identical twin brother (and former Polish Prime Minister) Jarosław Kaczyński starred in a hit children’s movie in the 1960s.

On the other hand, are we too suspicious of professionals? We wouldn’t go to an amateur dentist or doctor, so why should we trust amateur politicians to know what they’re doing? Career politicians have an understanding of the political process (not to mention relationships with stakeholders forged over decades) that help them get legislation passed.

Do we need professional politicians? Do we need “outsiders” to inject fresh ideas and dynamism into our political systems? Or do outsider politicians just reflect our obsession with celebrities? Let us know your thoughts and comments in the form below and we’ll take them to policymakers and experts for their reactions!

IMAGE CREDITS: (c) BigStock – palinchak