How populists are taking over the West and what this means for Ukraine
What do countries as diverse as Slovakia, Austria, the Netherlands and France have in common? In all these EU states, populists won the most votes in recent parliamentary elections.
It’s fair to say that more populist victories are ahead in other countries as well.
We should understand that this has become the new reality of the modern world.
Read more to understand the reasons behind this drastic change and how Ukraine should act in these circumstances in the article by Yurii Panchenko and Sergiy Sydorenko, the European Pravda editors – Trump isn't the only problem. How to overcome the new wave of populists, especially dangerous for Ukraine.
The success of populists isn’t just a recent phenomenon. Discussions about Europe’s "far-right shift" have been ongoing for about a decade. But there is every reason to talk about a long-term trend that fluctuates in intensity but has turned into a new reality and one of the key threats to Western democracies.
This threat though has become more dangerous, particularly for Ukraine.
Recalling the previous peak of this trend is easy, as it coincided with the global and the most powerful victory of a populist: Donald Trump won the US presidential election in 2016.
His experience proved to the world that even in a stable democracy, populist slogans can be enough to become one of the leading politicians or even head of state.
The United States is far from the only example of the explosive rise of populists during those years.
Similar processes occurred simultaneously in many Western countries.
What’s striking is how many societies "caught the populism fever" almost at the same time.
It could be explained by the delayed impact of the 2008 financial crisis, which significantly hurt the Western middle class. As a result, a share of people emerged whose standard of living declined substantially.
This created ground for politicians ready to offer voters simple (and therefore easy) solutions to complex problems. And, of course, such politicians emerged.
The mid-2010s also saw the peak of several other trends that hit Western societies.
Europe was shaken by a series of terrorist attacks, robbing Europeans of the sense of security – a fundamental value. The trend of illegal migration intensified dramatically.
This pushed many societal groups toward greater isolationism and conservatism, leading to the reintroduction of themes into political discourse that had been taboo during the pre-crisis stability such as xenophobia and homophobia.
Finally, the transition to the era of social media, YouTube and later TikTok triggered a revolution. It turned out that there was a simple way to spread blatant misinformation or fake news to millions.
People with previously marginal views realised that there were actually many like them, and that they could wield political influence.
The early 2020s became a time of two consecutive crises that helped revive the growth of anti-system players: the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine.
Should we hope that the wave of populist victories is subsiding? The situation has only worsened.
However, not all populists become open opponents of Ukraine.
In societies where public opinion is pro-Ukrainian, populists either don’t risk attacking Ukraine or even become our allies. Therefore, the focus should be on convincing societies.