Most of the “geopolitical” threats, real or confected, that capture headlines in the West nowadays are exogenous — emanating from China, Russia, Iran and so forth.
But others lie within the world’s democracies. Among these are the U.S. Republican Party’s embrace of Trumpian authoritarianism, which is eroding the country’s democracy and the possibility that new unanticipated variants of populism will take hold around the world.
One new variant of populism might involve hostility toward both costly green policies and vaccination against COVID-19. And it would be driven by a combination of genuine concerns about pocketbook issues and the kinds of conspiratorial lunacy that thrive on the internet.