The Growth of Right-Wing Populism in Modern Europe (According to the Estimates of European Experts)

Abstract

At the beginning of the last century, left-wing and right-wing political movements came to power in the European countries; they were the reaction of the society to the processes caused by the First World War. In the XXI century we again observe a shift of the political pendulum in Central Europe, this time to the right-wing direction. The various crises (expansion to the East, financial, economic, migration, demographic crises, identity crisis of the Europeans – the citizens of the EU), shaking the European Union, have led to the emergence of right-wing populist parties on the political arena. Through democratic elections, nationalist forces supporting the tightening of migration policies have won some power in the European parliaments. Until recently, such moods have not been characteristic of Europe, which has experienced the horrors of the Second World War. The article presents the results of the multifactorial analysis of the global and European processes, which resulted in an increased support for right-wing populists. The author defines the term “populism” and separates its right wing from the left wing, presents a brief excursus into the history of populist parties on the European political scene. Among the emphasized factors of rising rightwing populism there are globalization, Islamization of the European society, the advent of the post-truth politics era and fakes, the emotional deficit of Europeans and the influence of public opinion, the rapid development of technology, the growing demographic problem, and the issue of national identity.