Shahed Miah attended an event at LSE back in December 2024 – here they report back on what they learned! For those wanting to hear more, you can view the video of the event, as well as hear a podcast on the LSE Events website. Speakers included:

• Victor Agboga, LSE Fellow in the Department of Government
• Mukulika Banerjee, Professor in Social Anthropology
• Sara Hobolt, Sutherland Chair in European Institutions and Professor in the Department of Government
• Peter Trubowitz, Professor of International Relations
• Neil Lee, Professor of Economic Geography at the Department of Geography and Environment

Democracy is what many would consider an essential cornerstone of society, ensuring governments are not only elected, but elected in a free and fair manner. Whilst billions headed for the polls in 2024 and more to come in 2025, it is clear that there have been multiple issues that have played a part in influencing voters.

Europe’s growing right wing

Usually, when you think of Europe, what tends to come to mind is a continent that is seemingly more liberal in a cultural sense, with progressive values, a political sense based on checks and balances, free media and independent courts. And potentially the most important aspect, more economically liberal with a basis in supranationalism in the European Union.

However, recent elections have shown an increase in the opposite direction and various countries within the continent have seen an increase in support for populism alongside right leaning governments and parties. In the European parliament elections alone, various countries such as: France, Belgium, Italy, Czechia and Hungary have all voted for the populist right candidates to take power. Stopping not only in supranational institutions but following into national government. Finland, Sweden, The Netherlands, Hungary, Croatia and Serbia have all seen right wing parties gain office in government. But what does this all this actually mean for Europe on both an international and national level?

What is the impact of right-wing populism on the countries themselves?

You might be asking, what does an increase in right wing support mean for countries in a national sense? Generally, this tends to mean an increase in Eurosceptic ideals. Where a united Europe may be harder to achieve as nations prioritise themselves more over the collective benefit of Europe. A similar approach is seen with the UK and Brexit, Trump’s ‘America first’ , more isolationist policy could also be included, both examples favouring their respective domestic countries over collective co-operation.

A notable example being Trump’s withdrawal of the Paris Accords in 2017, which had aimed to tackle climate change, on the basis that it would underwhelm the American economy. Of course, Joe Biden reversed this on coming to power in 2021, but now it looks likely to revert in Trump’s second term.

Anti-immigration

With a more national-centric view on the country, anti-immigration policy is largely expected to follow, the more a government prioritises its established citizens, it is less likely to be accepting of migrants from foreign countries. This is an idea that will be delved more into detail shortly.

The influence on independent institutions and government checks?

Arguably the biggest change that would come about from a right-wing government in a political sense might be the resistance against a liberal style of democracy of various independent institutions such as the media. However, it is also likely to impact on a country’s recognition of international law and the independence of the judiciary.

Generally, as a populist right-wing system, governments of this nature tend to favour a stronger form of sovereignty within the country and more specifically the state itself. This in turn causes a rejection of international agreements and conventions as they tend to be deemed as restrictions and limitations on government. This might manifest in a range of different ways, from rejecting the conventions laid out by the European Court of Human Rights, the United Nations conventions, and more specifically the independence of the judicial system.

Judicial independence is a vital aspect of liberal democracy, making sure courts are separate bodies from the state, which enables them to scrutinise and check the application of statutory powers. Hungary, a more right leaning state, has been mired in controversy in relation to questions of interference with judicial independence. The idea of more checks and balances on an elected government isn’t a very attractive idea in the right-wing headspace, favouring a more assertive, dominant government with less scrutiny.

What is the cause for the shift to the right wing from the left?

Culture and economy tend to be at the forefront of this change and shift to the right.

The initial, obvious reason for the change may be down to economic and cultural reasons. Most voters tend to vote with economic issues at the forefront of their ballot, usually because it tends to be the most personal issue. Voters may feel as if the left has failed them economically to the point where the average person feels as if they may be worse off today compared to the previous election. In turn this creates an interesting shift in views towards political systems as well. Despite this being more focused on Europe, the yearly afrobarometer across Africa has shown that a growing number of people, while many are still favourable towards democracy, are also willing to support and tolerate non-democratic regimes and systems so long as their needs are met in a more effective manner.

This can be seen across Africa through the various military juntas including, but not limiting to Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Sudan, etc. These same principles, while to lesser degree, can be applied to explain the shift to the European right. Voters could feel as if liberal institutions and systems have failed them and are thus more tolerable to more centralised government with fewer checks and balances, less judicial independence etc – so long as their personal issues are dealt with.

This suggests that while democracy isn’t exactly completely dead, more and more are valuing it less as long as their needs are met. This could be credited to the complacency of liberal democracies being led to believe that their place in the world is entrenched and not open to challenge. This shows a naïve, childlike view that voters’ sentiments on a country’s style of democracy wouldn’t change.

The growing concern over mass immigration and its consequences

Another noteworthy reason for the shift to the right can be pinned to cultural values and norms being challenged and disrupted by foreign cultures and values, causing status anxiety among citizens. Identity politics has gained a strong following in recent years due to the issue of mass immigration.

In the UK alone, 1.2 million immigrants have entered the country in 2024 according to the ONS (Office for National Statistics), 320,000+ in Germany from January – September 2024 in line with the Statistisches Bundesamt, a little over half of France’s immigrants come from the following countries: Algeria (13%), Morocco (11.9%), 9.2% (Portugal), Tunisia (4.4%), Turkey (3.8%), Spain (3.7%), Italy (4.3%) – as per Institut national d’études démographiques in 2018. This has caused an impact across Europe, with citizens feeling that mass immigration has led to the erosion of national culture and identity. A belief has emerged that they are unable to co-exist with foreign imported nationals, leading to conflict between beliefs and ideologies.

An anti-immigration ideal is bound to arise from this sentiment and it has clearly been expressed here in the UK, looking at the recent general election of 2024 where Reform UK won 4,117,610 votes (Electoral Reform Society). With a strong anti-immigration sentiment as a major forefront for the party, it’s clear that many voters vote with identity politics as a deciding factor for their vote, beyond just economic reform, an aspect of which many feel liberal democracies as they stand, have absolutely failed to contain the issue of in recent years. I feel the the shift to the right can be explained as a conequence of the incompetence of the left.

Thanks to Shahed Miah for this review. Look out for more of his pieces in the coming weeks! Shahed is a member of the Lawbore team and committed to contributing to discussions that involve the future of the legal field. His aspirations are to qualify as a solicitor and gain a strong foothold in the legal working world. He enjoys playing sports (especially badminton) and editing videos.