Five years after forecasting “The Age of Rage,” economist and strategist Michael Every returns to assess how Western politics has evolved and why the situation may be more destabilising than even he anticipated.
What began as economic populism rooted in inequality and globalisation backlash has, he argues, morphed into a deeper systemic crisis: the erosion of rational policy frameworks, the collapse of technocratic governance, and the gradual “third-worldisation” of democratic politics. In this wide-ranging conversation, Ralph and Michael examine the decline of expert-led decision-making and the re-emergence of overt ideology as the primary driver of political action. Every outlines how traditional left-right economic debates are giving way to identity, sovereignty, and security concerns and why institutions designed for stability struggle to function in an age of permanent disruption. We also explore the concept of “reverse perestroika” in relation to Donald Trump not as reform that opens a system, but as reform that dismantles it from within. What does this mean for American governance, global alliances, and the liberal international order? Is this a temporary phase, or a structural shift toward a new political paradigm? Turning to Europe, the discussion confronts a stark strategic dilemma: autonomy or dependency.
Can European states assert independent geopolitical power, or will they remain economically and militarily subordinate in an increasingly multipolar world? The conversation probes the tension between integration, sovereignty, energy security, and defence issues that now shape the continent’s future more than traditional economic policy debates.
At the core lies a deeper question about democracy itself. Modern democratic systems operate on short electoral cycles, rapid media feedback, and public attention spans measured in weeks yet the challenges they face (industrial transformation, climate adaptation, security realignment, demographic change) unfold over decades. Can political systems optimised for immediacy deliver long-term strategy?
This episode examines:
- The breakdown of technocracy and expert consensus
- The return of explicit ideology in mainstream politics
- Populism’s evolution into systemic institutional crisis
- America’s internal transformation and global implications
- Europe’s geopolitical crossroads
- The feasibility of long-term policy in short-term democracies
The death of technocracy and the return of politics