The word “problem” in the title of this chapter should be understood as “underlying causes.” In other words, I will try in this chapter to hone in not on the populist manifestations or their consequences but on their background, contexts and causalities.

The first and most obvious task for all scholars of national populism should be this: to establish plausible reasons for how the same type of popular and political mobilization can take place in multiple countries across Europe and the entire world, at the same time and in a similar manner. Populism, it must be conjectured, is not a haphazard, coincidental or evanescent phenomenon, but a more permanent one that calls for systematic explanation. The point of departure for any such coherent “logic” must be a lookout for deeper causes— causes that may not be immediately apparent to the naked eye, but nevertheless affect millions of citizens around the world in much the same way.

I have identified at least five factors of causation that all play a role, sometimes together, at other points in specific combinations. They are

• • globalization and its destabilizing effects on domestic relations between leaders and populations;

• • rising levels of economic and social inequality and a widening chasm between formal egalitarianism and real difference (economic, social, political);

• • the gradual dissolution of national sovereignty;

• • increasing levels of distrust of elites;

• • individual or collective marginalization and victimization, real or perceived.

In the following, the five factors will be analyzed and commented on, more or less in that order, though connections will be made apparent along the way.

Globalization is a many- headed monster, comprising not only cultural, social, institutional and political elements but also, not to forget, finance and economics (Baylis and Smith 2001; Beck 2001; Dicken 2003; Hedetoft 2003; Lechner and Boli 2004). Since the end of World War II, we have lived through different globalization “phases” (1945– 75, 1975– 90, 1990– app. 2004, 2004– now, though things started to change with the 2008 crisis), all more or less synonymous with modulations (and possibly decline) of American hegemony (Babones 2015; Kupchan 2003; Nye 1990 and 2015).