Populism is on the march. The shift away from factual, rational analysis was evident in 2016 in the Brexit referendum and the US presidential election. A new study from the Legatum Institute shows it is still running strong. The focus of the work is on the UK but there are obvious signs – from the German elections to the dangerous situation in Poland and Hungary – that the populist tide is flowing in many places across the developed world. For businesses accustomed to a world based on facts and hard evidence combined with the rule of law this is deeply uncomfortable. For the companies in sectors such as energy which can easily be targeted by populists it is particularly worrying.
民粹主義正大行其道。2016年的英國退歐公投和美國總統大選顯示出了一種偏離客觀、理性分析的趨勢。列格坦研究所(Legatum Institute)的一項新研究表明，民粹主義仍勢頭強勁。這項研究聚焦于英國，但有明顯跡象——從德國大選到波蘭、匈牙利的危險局勢——顯示出，民粹主義浪潮正在波及發達世界的許多地區。對于習慣了基于事實、確鑿證據加法治的世界的企業而言，這令它們極為不舒服。對于那些很容易成為民粹主義者攻擊目標的行業（如能源業）的企業而言，情況尤為令人擔憂。