Dr. Hussam Abu Bakr: The Limits of the All-Powerful Leader – Is the World Waking Up from Populism?

Dr. Hussam Abu Bakr analyzes the election results in Israel and the US as a sign of the erosion of power of populist leaders, comparing global trends and raising the question of whether this marks the beginning of the end of the myth of the all-powerful leader.

Dr. Hussam Abu Bakr analyzes the recent election results in Israel and the United States as a possible sign of the erosion of power of populist leaders. He notes that Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump, two of the most prominent global populist leaders, suffered significant electoral defeats: in Israel, the Netanyahu bloc received 53 seats compared to 67 for the change bloc, and the Arab parties achieved a historic 19 seats; in the US, the Republicans lost control of Congress in the November 2026 midterm elections. The article compares additional cases worldwide – the defeat of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil in 2022, the loss of power of the Law and Justice party in Poland in 2023, and the defeat of Viktor Orbán in Hungary – and notes that despite this, populism is far from disappearing, with about 74% of the world's population living in autocratic countries according to the V-Dem 2026 report. The analysis highlights the gap between populist promises and their fulfillment, and raises the question of whether democracies are capable of setting limits on strong leaders.