🔗 Share this article

The Reform UK leader portrays his Reform UK party as a distinct phenomenon that has exploded on to the global stage, its rapid ascent an remarkable historic moment. But this week, in every one of the continent's leading countries and from India and Thailand to the United States and South America, hard-right, anti-immigrant, anti-globalisation parties similar to his are also leading in the public surveys.

During recent Czech voting, the conservative, pro-Putin populist Andrej Babiš overthrew the head of government Petr Fiala. A French political group, which has just brought down yet another France's leader, is ahead the polls for both the presidential race and parliament. In Germany, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is currently the leading party. Hungary’s Fidesz party, Slovakia's governing alliance and the Brothers of Italy are already in power, while the Freedom party of Austria (FPÖ), the Netherlands’ Freedom party (PVV) and Belgian Vlaams Belang – all hardline nationalists – are part of an global alliance of anti-internationalists, inspired by far-right propagandists like Steve Bannon, aiming to dethrone the global legal order, weaken human rights and destroy international collaboration.

Rise of Populist Nationalism

This nationalist wave exposes a new and unavoidable truth that democrats overlook at our peril: an authoritarian ethnic nationalism – once thought toppled with the historic barrier – has supplanted economic liberalism as the dominant ideology of our age, giving us a world of priorities: “US priority”, “Indian focus”, “China first”, “Russian primacy”, “group priority” and often “my tribe first and only” regimes. It is this ethnic nationalism that helps explain why the world is now composed of many autocratic states and fewer democratic ones, and ethnic nationalism is the driver behind the violations of global human rights standards not just by one nation in conflict but in almost every instance of global strife.

Understanding the Underlying Forces

Crucial to grasp the root causes, common to almost every country, that have fuelled this recent nationalist era. It begins with a broadly shared perception that a globalization that was accessible yet exclusionary has been a unregulated system that has been unjust to all.

For more than a decade, political figures have not only been slow to respond to the millions who feel left out and left behind, but also to the changing balance of global economic power, moving us from a unipolar world once led by the United States to a multipolar world of competing superpowers, and from a rules-based order to a might-makes-right approach. The nationalist ideology that this has incited means free trade is giving way to trade barriers. Where economics used to drive government policies, the politics of nationalism is now driving economic decisions, and already over a hundred nations are running mercantilist policies characterized by bringing production home and ally-focused trade and by restrictions on international commerce, investment and knowledge sharing, sinking global collaboration to its weakest point since the post-war period.

Optimism in Public Opinion

But all is not lost. The cement is still wet, and even as it solidifies we can find hope in the common sense of the world's population. In a poll conducted for a prominent organization, of thousands of individuals in 34 countries we find a significant portion are more resistant to an divisive nationalist agenda and more willing to embrace international cooperation than many of the leaders who rule over them.

Globally there is, maybe unexpectedly, only a small group of staunch global cooperation opponents representing a minority of the global population (even if 25% in the United States currently) who either feel peaceful living 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 cost of others doing badly.

But there are an additional group at the other end, whom we might call dedicated globalists, who either still see cooperation across borders through free commerce as a mutually beneficial arrangement, or are what an influential thinker calls “rooted cosmopolitans”.

Worldwide Public Position

The vast majority of the world's citizens are moderate in views: not isolated patriots, as “US priority” ideology would suggest, or all-in cosmopolitans. 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 irreconcilable gap.

Do the majority in the middle favor a obligation-light or a dutiful world? Are they willing to accept obligations beyond their local area or city wall? Yes, under specific circumstances. A initial segment, about a fifth, will back aid efforts to alleviate hardship and are prepared to act out of selflessness, supporting emergency help for affected areas. Those we might call “good cause” multilateralists empathize of others and believe in something bigger than themselves.

A second group comprising 22% are pragmatic multilateralists who want to know that any public funds for international development are used effectively. And there is a final category, roughly a fifth, personally motivated collaborators, who will approve teamwork if they can see that it benefits them and their communities, whether it be through ensuring them food on the table or peace and security.

Building a Cooperative Majority

Thus a definite majority can be constructed not just for emergency assistance if funds are used wisely but also for global action to deal with worldwide issues, like climate crisis and pandemic prevention, as long as this argument is argued on grounds of enlightened self-interest, and if we stress the reciprocal benefits that benefit them and their own country. And thus for those who have long wondered whether we work together from necessity or if we have a necessity for collaboration, the answer is each.

And this openness to cooperate across borders shows how we can reverse the anti-foreigner sentiment: we can overcome today’s negative, isolated and often forceful and controlling patriotic extremism that demonises newcomers, foreigners and “different groups” as long as we champion a optimistic, outward-looking and inclusive national pride that responds to people’s desire to belong and resonates with their everyday worries.

Tackling Key Issues

And while detailed surveys tell us that across the Western nations, illegal immigration is currently the top concern – 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 own lives and within their own local communities. Last month, a prominent leader spoke movingly about how what’s good about Britain can overcome what’s bad, doing so precisely because in most developed nations, “dysfunctional” and “in decline” are the words people have for years most commonly cited when asked about both our financial system and society.

But as the leader also pointed out, the far right is more interested in using complaints than ending them. Nigel Farage hailed a disastrous mini-budget as “the best Conservative budget” since the 1980s. But he would also implement a similar plan – what was intended – the largest reductions in government programs. The party's proposal to cut government expenditure by a huge sum would not repair struggling areas but damage them, create social division and destroy any spirit of solidarity. Under a far-right government, you will not be able to afford to be ill, disabled, poor or vulnerable. Continually from now on, and in every constituency, Reform should be asked which hospital, which school and which government service will be the first to be reduced or shut down.

Risks and Solutions

“Faragism” is economic theory at its most cruel, more destructive even than monetary policy, and vindictive far beyond fiscal restraint. What the public are indicating all over the Western world is that they want their leaders to restore our economies and our civic societies. “The party” and its global allies should be exposed day after day for policies that would harm both. And for those of us who believe our greatest achievements could be ahead of us, we can go beyond pointing out the party's contradictions by setting out a argument for a better Britain that resonates not just to idealists, but to realists, to personal benefit, and to the daily kindness of the nation's citizens.