Meet the man whose groundbreaking book is being devoured by the left

Anton Jäger, a lecturer in the history of political thought at Oxford, has gained significant attention with his new book, Hyperpolitics: Extreme Politicization without Political Consequences. Jäger argues that we are currently living through an era of hyperpolitics, a state where political awareness is high but the structural power to enact change is missing. He defines this by looking at how civic participation has shifted over the last century. During the age of mass politics, between 1914 and 1989, individuals participated in interlacing institutions like unions and political parties, which allowed them to translate social pressure into concrete results.

Following that period, the long 90s ushered in a time of post-politics where institutional involvement declined sharply. In the years following the 2008 financial crash, the world entered a phase of anti-politics, characterized by populist movements and protest candidates aiming to reclaim traditional power. Jäger observes that while these movements often have institutional goals, they lack the foundational infrastructure that earlier generations maintained. He describes modern movements as muscular yet without an internal metabolism, meaning they surge forward only to dissipate without leaving lasting change.

Jäger points to the decline of traditional organisations as a result of policy decisions such as union busting in the 1980s, alongside deeper cultural shifts. Without stable membership rolls or shared histories, modern political movements rely on temporary stimuli from social media and influencers. Even the political right is not exempt from this trend. Jäger suggests that modern conservative movements are often just as dependent on leader-based digital engagement as their counterparts on the left, though they often benefit from significantly more private funding.

Rather than labeling current political volatility as a return to fascism, Jäger suggests a different framework. He describes figures like Donald Trump through the lens of Bonapartism, where a leader relies on the passive support of an unorganised base rather than a disciplined mass movement. For political leaders today, this presents a significant challenge. Building lasting change requires more than just high-energy protests or digital campaigns. It requires the slow, often difficult work of institutional reconstruction, something that seems increasingly difficult in a society where the incentives favor individual exit over collective entry.