Current American political turmoil is not about personalities but the structural breakdown of both major parties. Each has lost key voter factions, creating a chaotic period where neither can truly win. This instability will persist until a new political alignment emerges.

South Korea's mainstream conservative party is increasingly influenced by a loud, far-right fringe. This group, composed of online commentators and YouTubers using MAGA-style tactics, has demonstrated the power to mobilize the party's base and dictate its leadership choices, effectively marginalizing moderate voices.

The BC Conservative Party's rapid rise was followed by an equally rapid collapse. In a bid for mainstream electability, its leadership recruited candidates from a collapsing centre-right party. This created a caucus of "dogs and cats" with fundamentally opposed views on cultural issues, leading to infighting and paralysis.

Traditional center-left parties are losing influence because they lack a coherent agenda to address the modern drivers of voter discontent. Their continued focus on narrow economic solutions is ineffective against the powerful cultural, identity-based, and technological forces that are actually shaping politics and fueling populism.

A former Australian Prime Minister warns that when mainstream conservative parties adopt the hardline rhetoric of populists, they inadvertently legitimize the issue. This strategy backfires because voters energized by that topic will ultimately choose the more authentic, original populist party.

The traditional left-right political axis is obsolete. A better framework is the 'political horseshoe,' which captures the generational conflict where younger people, facing a future of deglobalization and AI job displacement, are forming new coalitions outside the established consensus upheld by older generations.

A deep distrust of the bipartisan "neoliberal consensus" has made many young people receptive to any counter-narrative, whether from the left or right. This creates a powerful anti-establishment bloc that finds common ground in opposing the status quo, explaining the crossover appeal of populist figures.

Instead of isolating Nigel Farage's populist movement, the UK's Conservative Party adopted many of its core tenets, such as Brexit and anti-immigration stances. This strategy of assimilation blurred ideological lines, making a future coalition with Reform UK more palatable internally.

In France, centrist parties are trapped. Treating the populist National Rally as a pariah has failed to stop its growth. Conversely, treating it as a respectable political opponent has also boosted its popularity, creating a strategic dead-end for the mainstream.