World Leaders of the 2010s

[Varun]

Wikipedia has some top articles on several aspects of the world when you key in the relevant decades into the search field: 1960s, 1970s, 2000s, and so on.

You can rewind and see how technology developed over the years, read up on when cars became more rounded in their design, why a particular fashion trend went out of sync, so on and so forth.

The article for the 2010s is obviously incomplete, but I wonder how it will read in years to come, particularly under the 'Politics' banner.

There seems to be a concerted trend by the peoples of the world to elect a particularly loudmouth breed as their leader, or to swing in another direction to the consensus come a referendum. This is fairly different to just a few years ago when we had political leaders who were more conventional, policies which were more inclusive and serene, and predictable reactions to local and global events.

What's changed, and why has this been so rapid? Is this a passing phase to vent out some anger, or is this here to stay? What will be the long term implications of the ongoing mood?

 

[Markhor]

Throughout history a major economic crisis often causes political turmoil and a desire for a strongman to "restore control".

Here in the UK we've seen real wages drop by 10% since the start of the credit crunch - only Greece have suffered worse ! In the US household incomes have been stagnating for decades. In Europe, tensions over immigration had existed before the recession but sluggish economic growth has heightened the issue. So these concerns are real.

Social media has also polarised politics. Too often people live in hyper-partisan bubbles that reinforce their world view, reject the notion of compromise, and has caused the political discourse to become toxic.

 

[JaDed]

Maybe because we have lost faith in ourselves and we want someone to remind us of our greatness instead of governing the system.

 

[Varun]

Throughout history a major economic crisis often causes political turmoil and a desire for a strongman to "restore control".

Maybe so, but isn't this the first time that it's happening on a global scale? From Europe to South America, the US to Asia, referendums and elections seem to be going only one way.