Populism is a political movement in which a leader bypasses party structures to directly connect with the people through messaging that speaks to their problems and offers simple solutions and scapegoats. Populism is often linked with cults of personality and exists outside of the normal politics and established government. In Hill’s book, populism describes dangerous leaders, like Nigel Farage in the UK, President Donald Trump in the US, and President Vladimir Putin in the Russian Federation. Hill sees populism as one of the greatest threats to democracy.

Democracy is a system of government in which all citizens influence government decisions and leaders by participating in contested elections. Hill considers democratic governments the ideal and juxtaposes them with autocratic regimes. Countries like the US and the UK are democracies, though Hill argues that they are now poised on the edge of slipping into autocratic rule.

When factory and manual labor is replaced by automations and new technologies, regions built around industry lapse into postindustrialism—job loss, economic instability, shrinking opportunities, and the rise of discontent. Hill argues that the economic shift away from industrial production led to many problems in the West.