🔗 Share this article Don't Succumb to the Autocratic Hype – Reform and the Hard Right Are Able to Be Stopped in Their Tracks Nigel Farage portrays his Reform UK party as a unique phenomenon that has exploded on to the global stage, its meteoric rise an exceptional epochal event. However this week, in every one of Europe’s major countries and from India and Southeast Asia to the United States and Argentina, far-right, anti-immigration, anti-globalisation parties similar to his are also leading in the opinion polls. In last Saturday’s Czech elections, the conservative, pro-Putin populist Andrej Babiš overthrew prime minister Petr Fiala. National Rally, which has just forced the resignation of yet another French prime minister, is leading the polls for both the French presidency and the legislature. In Germany, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is currently the most popular party. Hungary’s Fidesz party, Robert Fico’s pro-Russian Slovakian coalition and the Italian political group are already in power, while the Austrian FPÖ, the Dutch PVV and Belgian Vlaams Belang – all hardline nationalists – are part of an international coalition of opponents of global cooperation, motivated by right-wing influencers such as a well-known figure, seeking to dethrone the global legal order, diminish fundamental freedoms and destroy international collaboration. The Populist Nationalist Surge The populist nationalist surge reveals a new and unavoidable truth that supporters of democracy ignore at our peril: an authoritarian ethnic nationalism – once thought toppled with the historic barrier – has replaced neoliberalism as the dominant ideology of our age, giving us a world of firsts: “America first”, “Indian focus”, “China first”, “Russian primacy”, “group priority” and often “exclusive group focus” regimes. It is this ethnic nationalism that helps explain why the world is now composed of many autocratic states and fewer democratic ones, and this ideology is the force behind the violations of international human rights law not just by Russia in Ukraine but in almost every instance of global strife. Understanding the Underlying Forces Crucial to understand the root causes, common to almost every country, that have driven this new age of nationalism. It starts with a broadly shared perception that a globalization that was accessible yet exclusionary has been a unregulated system that has been unjust to all. Over the past ten years, leaders have not only been delayed in addressing to the many people who feel excluded and left behind, but also to the shifting dynamics of global economic power, transitioning from a US-dominated era once dominated by the United States to a multi-power landscape of rival major nations, and from a rules-based order to a might-makes-right approach. The ethnic nationalism that this has provoked means open commerce is giving way to protectionism. Where economics used to drive government policies, the politics of nationalism is now driving financial choices, and already more than 100 countries are running mercantilist policies marked out by reshoring and ally-focused trade and by restrictions on international commerce, foreign funding and knowledge sharing, lowering global collaboration to its lowest ebb since the post-war period. Hope in Global Public Sentiment However, there is hope. The situation is not fixed, and even as it solidifies we can see optimism in the pragmatism of the world's population. In a poll conducted for a major foundation, of thousands of individuals in 34 countries we find a clear majority are less receptive to an divisive nationalist agenda and more inclined to support global teamwork than many of the officials who govern them. Across the world there is, perhaps surprisingly, only a limited number of hardened anti-internationalists representing a minority of the world's people (even if 25% in the United States currently) who either feel coexistence between diverse communities is unattainable or have a win-lose perspective that if they or their country do well, it has to be at the expense of others doing badly. However there are an additional group at the opposite extreme, whom we might call dedicated globalists, who either still see international collaboration through free commerce as a mutually beneficial arrangement, or are what an influential thinker calls “rooted cosmopolitans”. Worldwide Public Position Most people of the world's citizens are moderate in views: not narrow, inward-looking nationalists, as “America first” ideology would suggest, or fully global citizens. They are devoted to their country but don’t see the world as in a never-ending struggle between the “our side” and the “others”, adversaries always divided from each other in an unbridgeable divide. Are most moderates favor a duty-free or a dutiful world? Are they prepared to accept responsibilities beyond their local area or city wall? Affirmative, under certain conditions. A initial segment, 22%, will support aid efforts to relieve suffering and are prepared to act out of altruism, supporting emergency help for disaster zones. Those we might call “good cause” cooperation advocates feel the pain of others and have faith in something bigger than themselves. Another segment comprising a similar percentage are practical cooperators who want to know that any public funds for international development are used effectively. And there is a third group, roughly a fifth, personally motivated collaborators, who will endorse teamwork if they can see that it advantages them and their local areas, whether it be through guaranteeing them basic necessities or safety and stability. Building a Cooperative Majority So a clear majority can be built not just for emergency assistance if funds are used wisely but also for international measures to deal with global problems, like environmental emergency and pandemic prevention, as long as this argument is argued on grounds of wise personal benefit, and if we stress the reciprocal benefits that flow to them and their own country. And thus for those who have long questioned whether we work together from necessity or if we have a need to cooperate, the answer is both. This willingness to work internationally shows how we can reverse the anti-foreigner sentiment: we can overcome current pessimistic, isolated and often aggressive and authoritarian patriotic extremism that vilifies newcomers, foreigners and “different groups” as long as we advocate for a positive, globally engaged and inclusive national pride that addresses people’s need for community and connects to their everyday worries. Addressing Public Concerns Although in-depth polls tell us that across the Western nations, illegal immigration is currently the biggest national issue – and it's clear that it must quickly be brought under control – the snapshots of opinion also tell us that the public are even more concerned about what is happening in their personal circumstances and within their own local communities. Last month, the UK Prime Minister spoke movingly about how what’s good about Britain can overcome what’s bad, doing so precisely because in most western countries, “dysfunctional” and “deteriorating” are the words people have for years most frequently used when asked about both our economy and society. However, as the prime minister also pointed out, the far right is more interested in using complaints than resolving issues. A Reform leader hailed a disastrous mini-budget as “the best Conservative budget” since 1986. But he would also implement a comparable strategy – what was intended – the largest reductions in public services. The party's proposal to reduce public spending by £275bn would not repair downtrodden communities but ravage them, turn citizen against citizen and wreck any spirit of solidarity. Under a hard-right regime, you will not be able to afford to be ill, disabled, needy or vulnerable. Continually from now on, and in every constituency, Reform should be asked which medical facility, which educational institution and which public service will be the first to be cut or shut down. Risks and Solutions “Faragism” is economic theory at its most inhumane, more destructive even than monetary policy, and spiteful far beyond austerity. What the public are telling us all over the Western world is that they want their leaders to restore our financial systems and our civic societies. “Reform” and its global allies should be exposed repeatedly for policies that would devastate both. And for those of us who believe our best days could be in the future, we can go beyond pointing out the party's contradictions by setting out a argument for a improved nation that appeals not just to idealists, but to pragmatists, to personal benefit, and to the daily kindness of the nation's citizens.