this is the sort of question that brings rise to endless chicken vs egg debates.
I'm with Mortimer and Chickenhawk. It's assbackwards to say technocratic centrism arose in response to right wing populism. Right wing populism rose in response to it. Look at the politicians you cite. Where was right wing populism in Blair and Clinton's day? Technocratic centrism arose in response to left wing parties consistently losing to mainstream conservatism.
Err, Perot?
And Pat Buchanan, and the militia movement, and...