ABSTRACT
This chapter, however, shows that penal populism was unable to sustain its task of bolstering social cohesion to a sufficient level of stability. The twin consequences of the 2008 global fiscal crisis and growing immigration from Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America shattered faith not just in neo-liberal restructuring but in the democratic order itself. As a consequence, penal populism came to be absorbed within the much broader canvas of populist politics that has since emerged. The tumultuous year of 2016, which saw a majority in favor of the Brexit referendum in the UK and the election of Donald Trump as US president, signaled the growing international momentum that populism was gaining.
