PEAK -POPULISM- PEEK : PRECIS

AMERICAN authoritarian tendencies are pretty average. Sixty-six percent of Americans said the country '' needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful, '' compared with 63% of respondents among the 28 nations overall.

Forty percent of Americans said they believed the country needs a strong leader who '' will break the rules,'' which was only a bit below the 40% globally who believed that.

Those results reveal a political climate - in the United States and across the world - that is extremely favorable for right-wing populists. That matters because this is a year in which at least 64 countries will hold national elections.

'' Populism has emerged as the dominant global movement. ''

The World Students Society thanks David Brooks for his opinion.