Former secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warns against feeling reassured by the defeat of far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in the French presidential election Sunday.
“I really do believe that these populists are changing the character of the politics just by being there, so even mainstream candidates are having to respond to their agenda,” Rice told Capital Download. “You see fewer people talking about free trade. You see countries talking about industrial policy and protectionism. It’s hard to defend immigrants almost any place in the world today. …
“The rise of nativism is having an impact on the politics, even if the candidates aren’t winning.”
More than four years ago, Rice began writing a book about the challenges to democracy, especially in nations that only recently have moved toward free elections. Now Democracy: Stories from the Long Road to Freedom, is being published Tuesday by Twelve in the wake of the unexpected passage of Brexit in Great Britain and the surprise election of Donald Trump in the United States.
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