Democracies still face threats to their existence today. With autocratic regimes, political power is clearly based upon executive prerogative, meaning a potentially unchecked use of force by police and military, thereby guaranteeing domestic stability through force. In contrast, the political power of democracies is ultimately based upon their power of persuasion; a principle that is… Continue reading “Autocracies vs. Democracies. A theoretical approach”
To prevent such developments, mainstream parties need to shape political discourse, instead of being shaped by it. In August 2017, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) co-leader Alexander Gauland proposed to ‘dispatch’ the then Federal Commissioner for Immigration, Refugees and Integration, Aydan Özoğuz (SPD), back to Anatolia. Some weeks later, the AfD party entered the German… Continue reading “Merkel’s dilemma: Germany’s polarising ‘Turkish issue’ returns”
Populist radical right parties and their leaders openly despise expertise: they often parade their ignorance and inexperience by developing, in electoral terms, propaganda depicting them shoulder-to-shoulder with ordinary citizens (“the People”) – as distant as possible from accultured, intellectual cosmopolitan elites. Mainstream political parties have, especially in recent years, often championed recourse to unelected experts… Continue reading “Expertise in politics: boon or bane?”
The radical right uses the lack of clear definitions of hate speech to exploit its right to free speech. As the recent furor surrounding British comedian Jo Brand’s comments on the BBC Radio 4 Heresy program attest, there is very little clarity about what does — and, importantly, what does not — constitute hate speech.… Continue reading “When Free Speech Becomes Hate Speech”
The creation of new symbols and rituals to evoke belief in a higher cause are central to the concept, ‘political religion’, prevalent in fascism studies for at least two decades. ‘I’m beginning to comprehend, I think, some of the reasons for Hitler’s astounding success. Borrowing a chapter from the Roman church, he is restoring pageantry… Continue reading “Political religions and fascism”
The political momentum and social appeal of the current populist backlash illustrates the persistence of dark collective layers that the postwar transition was meant to have banished. In academia, we seem to have a fondness for the trope of the “wave” and “wave theory.” Samuel Huntington gave us the waves of democratization — a process of… Continue reading “Is the World Undergoing a Deep Populist Transition?”
On July 10, 2019, a landmark BBC Panorama investigation documenting the Labour Party’s antisemitism crisis aired in the United Kingdom. The report primarily highlighted cases where member criticisms of Israel and Zionism by Party members had crossed the line into bigotry and racism. Jeremy Corbyn and his allies in Labour are now being probed by… Continue reading “Israel in the Eyes of the Contemporary Right”
Ethnocentric, sexist and racist ideologies demonstrate why it is important to de-colonise the study and teaching of European culture and history. Recently, Javier Ortega Smith, the leader of Vox, the populist radical right party in Spain, came under scrutiny for language that Spanish Attorney General Luis Navajas called “abominable” and “repulsive” but not a… Continue reading “The ups and downs and clashes of Western civilization”
There is much we can learn from the 1920’s and 1930’s. For example, it was not only his ideas that made Nae Ionescu important for his followers. For a part of the political spectrum that is so notorious for disparaging intellectuals, the radical right is very appreciative of those prominent libertarian voices that stand… Continue reading “Why the radical right love their intellectuals”
John Tanton, who over 40 years almost single-handedly built the American anti-immigration movement around a core of rancid white nationalism, is dead. He was 85, and he left a legacy of racist opposition to immigration that, among other things, has been fully embraced by the president of the United States. Tanton died last week in… Continue reading “The Architect of America’s Racist Anti-Immigration Movement is Dead”