A look at how rising inequality has been reframed by anti-rights movements—and why reclaiming the narrative is essential to building a just future
The past four decades have witnessed an unprecedented surge in wealth inequality and left us buffeted by one financial crisis after another. As we stand on the brink of yet another recession, a historic realignment in the global order, unfolding in real time, has made the world more unpredictable and transactional than ever.
One consequence of this larger trend of instability has been the emergence of a ‘new’ wave of anti-rights leaders and movements in the aftermath of the 2007–2009 global financial crash. These movements defy easy categorization—often labeled as ‘populist right-wing,’ ‘autocratic,’ ‘fascist,’ ‘illiberal democracy,’ or ‘far-right’— but what they share is a common playbook; a willingness to offer answers to the widespread fear, anxiety, and grievances people are experiencing.
Yes, they wield significant economic, social, and cultural capital, and despite often inconsistent messaging, they’re often the loudest (and often the only) voices addressing these concerns, albeit through distorted narratives of inequality, class struggle, and identity politics. They frame society as a struggle against a corrupt elite that is more invested in “woke” agendas than ordinary families. As a result, division and polarization have become the dominant response to rising precarity and distrust, and indeed, inequality.
This new CIC perspectives piece explores the following themes:
- When Policy Fails: The Strategic Rise of (Not So) Reactionary Economics
- The Vicious Cycle of Inequality and Division
- Pattern Recognition: People Know When They Are Being Left Behind
- When the System Really Works—But Only for the Few
- Inequality by Design: The Policies that Transferred Wealth to the Top
- The Crisis in Multilateralism Didn’t Start Today
- Reclaiming the Fight Against Inequality
