Friday, 17 May, 2024
By: Lakshita Bhagat
Given the fast reshaping of European politics, the rise of right-wing parties is keenly watched around the world. Image source: IANS
This tectonic shift is of extreme importance as it will have a bearing on the collective future of Europe, the value dynamics and preferences of people, and international relations
After lengthy discussions and negotiations among parties, the Swedish parliament, Riksdag, has elected conservative Ulf Kristersson as the new prime minister with backing from the far-right. A first in the country’s history. The centre-of-right government led by the Moderates and composed of Christian Democrats and Liberals has ousted the Social Democrats, who had dominated the Swedish political landscape since the 1930s. However, once shunned as a Neo-Nazi movement, the Sweden Democrats (SD) has emerged as the real king-maker, which has garnered one-fifth of the vote share (20.6%) – a tremendous feat giving the party an edge in the competitive multiparty political system.
Against this background, let us analyse the ascent of right-wing parties and politics that have ruptured the status quo of national and European politics. This tectonic shift is of extreme importance as it will have a bearing on the collective future of Europe, the value dynamics and preferences of people, and international relations.
What has led to the rise of the Swedish Democrats
Founded in 1988, the SD remained a pariah political party and struggled to get any taste of power until 2010, when the party got MPs in the parliament. Subsequently, the party has successively increased its vote share in elections. What has led to the party going mainstream in such a short span of time? In the last few years, the party has been involved in an image makeover and rebranding efforts to shake off its perception as Nazi sympathisers. The efforts included changing the party logo, outreach to young people, and dissociating itself from extreme right-wing events and activities. Some of the issues that the right-wing party has successfully capitalised on are immigration, violence and crime, and stocking nationalist sentiments, among others. The issue of immigration had been simmering in Sweden for quite some time but in the aftermath of the European ‘migration crisis’ of 2015, the country accepted the highest number of refugees per capita and the issue snowballed into a major political issue. The SD’s main political plank during the polls linked recent incidents of gun violence and crime with immigration, which surely benefited the party in experiencing electoral windfall.
Right-wing drift in European politics
The chart below looks at the status of the main right-wing parties in select European countries.
Right-wing parties in select European countries
Some of the issues that cut across the rise of right-wing parties are anti-immigration, Euroscepticism, cultural values, identity, law and order, and cracking down on crime and violence. The EU refugee policy to tackle the unprecedented immigration flow did not go down well with many countries. Hungary and Poland were swift in their response by refusing compliance. While Sweden took in a great number of refugees in relative terms, the political churning and discontent emboldened the far-right forces. The fresh incidents of violence and crime in the rather peaceful Sweden gave further impetus to the party to call for a crackdown on the menace and restore law and order. Moral values pertaining to family, religion, and gender roles feature widely in the campaigns in Poland in Hungary, calling for their ‘protection’. In France, the issues of identity and culture sit at the heart of the right-wing narrative along with immigration, especially in the wake of recent killings in the name of religion. Similarly, in Italy and Spain, immigration figures as a significant political matter along with other domestic issues such as Catalan and national integration in Spain. All these issues have catapulted these parties from margins to mainstream politics.
Overall, the European ‘migration/ refugee crisis’ of 2015 has been used successfully in mobilising support and revival of nationalism. Part of the anti-immigration stance is the anti-Islamic rhetoric. However, during the recent Ukraine crisis, the very countries wielding harsh stances on immigration—Hungary and Poland, welcomed refugees with open arms. Except in Sweden, most right-wing parties are anti-LGBT, and favour ‘natural family’, and Christian values. The right-wing shift in Italy is being watched keenly as it is the third-largest European economy. While right-wing parties in France and Italy have older origins, in Sweden, Spain and post-Socialist Hungary and Poland, the parties under consideration are relatively new. Image softening has helped the right-wing parties in Sweden and France. In 2018, the National Front became National Rally.
Given the fast reshaping of European politics, the rise of right-wing parties is keenly watched around the world. The Eurosceptic rhetoric of these parties has especially put the EU leadership on a watch out.
