It is a mistake to think of one reason for the success of populism, as well as to think that its roots are in the time since populism showed up!



One of the main drivers is the loss of trust. The established "Elite" is searching for the reason why Donald Trump was elected, and overlooks the obvious: because Hillary Clinton was the alternative. A lot of western Politicians do not realize, that they are so unappealing, that people prefer to trust a corrupt billionaire as the savior of the working class. That is also the reason why they are so powerless to fight back.



In Germany one can see the downfall of the established since 2005, roughly. Participation in elections dropped from around 80% to 60% in about 2009, for Bundestag and to a terrifying 40% in EU elections. The solution of the established politicians? Suggested were 1) duty to elect or 2) election in supermarkets and gas stations as people were there anyhow! These are the same people that try to fight populism today!



And people did not only lost trust in politicians, but in media, medicine, science and what not. Basically in every authority.



It is by the way not that hard to see why. Just picture a white male german, who started working 1989 at the age of 16. He needed to finance the rebuilding of the east, feared unemployment during the late 90s, the Euro cut his salary in half while prices basically rocketed back to old levels (economist told him he was wrong and there was no inflation), his social security was cut way down while costing the same, at the time he finally needed his health insurance it was cut way down, though costing even more, and he faces an existence in poverty once he retires, all of this happened with basically stagnating income for the German household.



That is the situation in which a lot of Germans were told that some countries needed financial help from Germany. And if, in the European mindset this was even okay for him, in 2015 he needed to pay for over 1 million refugees. While at the same time seeing the streets flooded with homeless from rumania and Bulgaria.



The reason why populism is so successful is because the established "Elite" failed completely. And that is why we are doomed to stay in this deadlock. Lost trust cannot be made up again with a bit of social justice or security. Fear was established in the name of neoliberlism (Social security is too expensive and will fail, Deficits need to be reduced or we are doomed) and that now fires back!