Today’s world moves at breakneck speed but democracy is slow. The Far Right is exploiting this

To truly understand populism, we have to take the long view. In the 1960s, populist parties won, on average, 5.4% of the vote in Europe, while today, following the European Parliament elections on 9 June, more than 20% of the electorate trusts them with their vote.

Not all populists are right wing, and indeed some populist parties fall on the left of the political spectrum, including La France Insoumise and the German Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance. However, in today’s political landscape those making an impact are right wing populist parties, who place the nation front and centre, and pillory, scapegoat and discriminate against “others” defined in ethnic, national, social or religious terms.

Representatives from ultra-nationalist parties – such as the French National Rally, Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the Spanish Vox – have become significant forces in the Strasbourg parliament. The Far Right came top of the polls in France, Italy, Austria and Hungary, and second in Germany, Poland and the Netherlands.

With these parties calling to return sovereignty to individual states, the consequences could be existential for the European Union and, potentially, humanity, given the urgent political need to slow and reverse climate change.

While the the economic crisis of 2008 and the migratory crisis of 2015 marked turning points for populism in Europe, neither can fully account for how deeply...

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