New Romantics Fuel Populist Convergence

Contemporary insurgent politicians on left and right are drawing on Romantic‑era modes — privileging instinct, nostalgia, and anti‑institutional feeling — producing a shared populist grammar that delegitimizes technocratic institutions and resists persuasion by policy arguments. This cultural shift explains why vastly different political actors can sound similar and why institution‑focused reform arguments often fail to sway them. — Identifying this 'New Romantic' sensibility helps explain persistent anti‑institutionalism across the political spectrum and suggests different strategies (institutional repair and cultural framing) for addressing it.