Primer: Right Wing Populism
Over the last decade, a new current in right-wing politics has swept across much of the Western world. Characterized by nationalist, anti-establishment rhetoric, right-wing populism has transformed the political landscape, propelled by widespread disaffection with the economic and social order. Christened by the mid-2010s elections of Donald Trump in the United States and the emergence of the far right in Europe, and mirrored in the recent rise of figures such as Giorgia Meloni in Italy and Javier Milei in Argentina, the movement has come to embody a broader revolt against globalization, liberal institutions, and the political mainstream.
At its core, populism is a political approach that constructs a dichotomy between “the people” and “the elite.” Its central claim is that governance should reflect the will of ordinary citizens rather than the interests of those in power. Right-wing populism is a particular strain of this broader impulse, one that attaches rightist ideas of nationalism and cultural conservatism to populist anger. It fashions “the people” in ethnonational or traditionalist terms and construes outsiders, particularly migrants, minorities, and global institutions, as threats to the nation’s sovereignty and identity.
Critically, despite the nationalist character of right-wing populist movements, they have not remained confined within national borders. Across Europe and the Americas, right-wing leaders and parties have drawn inspiration from one another, borrowing rhetoric, strategies, and digital tactics. Figures like Trump, Meloni, and Milei have found common cause in their critiques of liberalism and the liberal democratic international order.
As a result of the deep mistrust of the status quo that forms the basis of right-wing populist ideology, these movements often seek to dismantle or delegitimize established institutions. Traditional conceptions of governmental order, including checks and balances, media freedoms, and international agreements are thrown out. Framing their own authority as more authentic than the procedural mechanisms of democracy, populist leaders often justify their transgression of established political customs by claiming to speak directly for “the people.” This posture enables them to challenge judicial oversight, civil service neutrality, and even electoral norms in the name of restoring national sovereignty.
Critics thus warn that right-wing populism endangers democracy by upending the institutional order underpinning it. In dismantling established norms and procedures, populist movements can create power vacuums easily exploited by technocrats and strongmen who claim to restore stability. Their insistence on a singular, “authentic” national identity also risks reducing the idea of the nation to a narrow cultural or ethnic mold, leaving little room for diversity. In this sense, the populist appeal to “the people” becomes dangerously reductive, appealing to exclusionary and discriminatory notions of belonging that undermine the pluralism on which democracy depends.
On the other hand, supporters argue that right-wing populism does not threaten democracy so much as revive it. They see it as a necessary corrective to an insulated political class and a response to cultural and economic dislocation. By returning to the “tried and true” beliefs in national pride, traditional values, and limited immigration, right-wing populists claim to restore a sense of belonging and purpose to a decadent society.
Whatever one’s political tendencies, the rise of right-wing populism and the consequent erosion of the old monopoly of the political center have become defining the defining political developments of our time. This movement has exposed deep fractures within liberal democracies and forced a reckoning with the civilizational sclerosis affecting the West in the decades since the fall of the USSR.
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“Marine Le Pen, Leader of the French National Front” by Global Panorama, CC BY-SA 2.0