ECFR research: The success of the New Right in Europe – and what works in opposition to it | EUROtoday

Right-wing extremist events are gaining reputation in Europe. In February 2025, the right-wing extremist occasion household in Europe recorded a mean electoral success of 24 % – and drew stage with the conservatives and social democrats for the primary time since 1920. Their representatives are in energy in Hungary and Italy. They are positioning themselves in France or Germany.

Their household of events is named the New Right, which shaped as a political motion within the late Nineteen Sixties and early Nineteen Seventies and differs from the so-called outdated proper. “Our initial fight was against the ‘syndicate of the old right’, which was pro-globalization, pro-EU and aligned with the neoliberal agenda,” explains an nameless New Right supply quoted by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) in its newest research. Now their calls for are rather more bold and radical.

“The New Right: Anatomy of a Global Political Revolution” is the identify of the research by ECFR boss Mark Leonard, which is obtainable completely to WELT. With its publication, the ECFR is launching a brand new analysis sequence that analyzes the established order of European politics. The research explores what defines the New Right and reveals methods to counter it.

Liberalism as a standard enemy

According to Leonard, the New Right is a “hypermodern” political power that has tailored to the circumstances of the 2020s. Despite nationwide variations, all events observe the identical framework with 4 interlocking pillars, linked by a standard enemy – liberalism.

Leonard names the primary pillar as a standard disaster analysis that unites the New Right. Accordingly, the current is a “polycrisis” that consists, amongst different issues, of migration, conflict or pandemics. The New Right blames the liberal order and globalization for this. Liberalism has created a world filled with interdependencies which are tough to manage politically and are hollowing out societies. The New Right occasion household is promoting itself as a savior in occasions of want: it guarantees order by brazenly attacking present guidelines, establishments and taboos. “Destroying is the real point,” Leonard lets one other particular person from the motion’s atmosphere have his say.

The second pillar is constructing a brand new class coalition. Unlike the outdated proper, the brand new proper not solely distances itself from the left, but additionally from the neoliberal institution on which the outdated proper was as soon as primarily based. The New Right presents itself because the political residence of these teams that see themselves because the losers of globalization and liberal politics – these embrace staff, non-academics or residents of structurally weak areas. From there, she needs to steadily and sustainably increase her voters. This technique is taken into account a “new class war” that’s directed in opposition to city elites, bureaucracies or firms. Leonard reveals that the New Right guarantees to mix cultural conservatism with protecting social coverage – no matter how politically strong this promise truly is.

Thirdly, in line with the research, the New Right has a coherent political agenda with which it needs to protect nationwide cultures. It focuses on 4 coverage areas: migration (isolation), economic system (financial nationalism and reindustrialization), international coverage (sovereignty) and the state (deconstruction).

The research identifies the communication technique because the fourth pillar. The New Right takes benefit of the fragmentation of the general public. She dominates social media and mobilizes her followers by means of feelings and identification. “It’s no longer just about having different opinions, but about having different facts.” The reference to freedom of expression serves as a lever in opposition to the media, science and regulation.

Wolfgang Schröder, political scientist on the University of Kassel, basically agrees with the research’s findings. The right-wing motion unites its overarching forces to kind a standard superstructure, he says in an interview with WELT. According to Schröder, the outcomes present a foundation for additional evaluation, however shouldn’t be seen as a blueprint for the actions of all events within the New Right: “Right-wing extremist parties do not operate in a vacuum. They differ in their classification into the respective national political culture and into the national political party system.”

All 4 pillars can be discovered within the AfD, says Schröder. The particular person expression of the AfD, which expresses itself radically by way of content material and rhetoric, is predicated on its right-wing monopoly place in Germany. “If a party is the monopolistic actor in the right-wing camp, then the interpretation of the social structure is different than if it has to place itself in tough competition between different groups,” explains Schröder.

But that additionally makes it so tough to foretell how the AfD will develop. Right-wing events initially pursued a method of trivialization once they have been in energy. There are no less than indications of this, reviews Schröder.

Neither copy nor lecture morally

In his research, Leonard additionally addresses the query of how the political heart can counter the New Right. He argues that the New Right ought to neither be copied nor lectured morally. She must be approached with “curiosity about her ideas and respect for her voters,” says the research.

This ends in three strategic suggestions for Leonard. First, democratic events should occupy their very own political terrain from which they’ll communicate credibly. Your language should acknowledge uncertainty and actuality as an alternative of moderating it in a technocratic means.

Second, mainstream events should govern in a means that doesn’t depart staff and susceptible teams behind. The politics of the previous many years have destroyed belief. Rather, a coverage is important that allows losers to reconnect. Thirdly, the research argues for a brand new collective identification that’s neither “ethnonationalist” nor too “woke”. The New Right affords an emotional majority narrative of nation, tradition and belonging. The democratic mainstream should counter this with one thing equally unifying.

Schröder additionally agrees with the suggestions for motion. He additionally advocates persevering with to attempt for an inclusive society. But this must be communicated extra authentically. “But that doesn’t mean thinking from the minority position, but from where the average people in society are.” This may result in a brand new “we” development that’s extra open and fewer defined from an avant-garde place.

Schröder believes that the AfD will stay a everlasting participant that we must be taught to dwell with. For a profitable combat in opposition to the AfD, “in the end you need ‘deliverism’”. This implies that politicians not solely have to vow, but additionally ship.

Till Henniges is a volunteer on the Axel Springer Academy of Journalism and Technology.