The wise sage from Boston, Tip O'Neill, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, contributed to statecraft that “all politics is local.” The result of the parliamentary election in the Netherlands on March 16, 2017, while inconclusive, appears to bear this out. It is not a forecast or harbinger for results in other countries. The Netherlands election has shown that the supposed domino process of populism, exemplified in the UK with Brexit, and in the U.S. with the victory of Donald Trump, may have been halted. It is unclear whether that result has resonance and whether populist forces in elections France in April and May 2017 and in Germany in September will be similarly checked. Has the domino effect of populism ended? Differences in the history, culture, and level of the economy in the different European countries are likely to result in different perceptions of needs and policies, and responses to the demands of globalization. It is arguable whether the...(Read Full Article)