Different year, same direction of travel. The likely formation of the first far-right-led government in Austria’s postwar history, after the breakdown this month of coalition talks between mainstream parties, is the latest confirmation of the illiberal drift in western democracies. Only a few years ago, Viktor Orbán’s Hungary remained a troublesome outlier in the European Union. These days, variations on Mr Orbán’s ethno-nationalist approach to 21st-century politics are flourishing across the continent. And in a week’s time, Donald Trump will be back in the White House.
In an era of stagnating living standards and rising inequality, the growing appeal of national populism should not come as a surprise. The targeting of immigration, “liberal elites” and globalisation has channelled resentments felt in deindustrialised regions, where good jobs and a sense of identity were lost as capital and investment moved elsewhere. The migration of the less well-off towards parties of the far right is a symptom of times in which trust in mainstream politics has collapsed.
