Political Leadership and Political Parties in the Age of Trump
This paper examines the broad context of Trump's rise to understand the challenge he presents to contemporary political understanding. He is the American exemplar of a worldwide trend of political disaffection around the world rooted in the travails of the global political economy. The paper first looks at the challenges faced by long established political parties everywhere in managing, or failing to manage, economic crises. It then outlines how the crisis of parties has been historically manifest in America, which in turn provides the context for assessing the rise of Trump and the brand of leadership he offers. Intrinsic to this analysis is the crucial difference between political leadership in an institutionally complex democratic system and the kind of business leadership upon which Trump prides himself. Having thus appraised Trumpism within political parameters both broad and narrow, the paper makes a brief assessment of the likely fate, not just of Trump himself, but of the whole American party system with, it argues, particularly damaging consequences for Republicans.