From Warsaw to Melbourne, from Berlin to Texas, the streets of many OECD countries are witnessing anti-immigration rallies and the surge of far-right populism.

In Europe, the hard right has entered coalition governments; in the US, Trumpism shows no sign of fading; in Australia, resentment over housing, cost of living, and migration is being weaponised by opportunists.

This rise of extremism is not an accident of culture. It is in part the consequence of the long retreat of social democracy. Neoliberalism did not simply shrink the public sphere; it captured the centre-left itself, turning parties once dedicated to building equity into managers of market primacy. The result has been a failure of responsibility and opportunity and a triple failure: in social provision, in economic structure, and in sustainability.

Failure one: social provision hollowed out

In country after country, universal systems of health, housing, education and care have been fragmented into markets. In Britain, outsourcing has corroded the NHS. In Scandinavia, privatised elder care has frayed universalism. In Australia, the retreat has been........

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