It’s been reported that in the German elections, a far right party has made ‘significant gains’.
In the UK (at least before the scandals) Reform UK seems to have had a significant boost and has even surpassed the right-wing Conservative Party in some polls/predictions.
Even France, one or two years ago, was threatened with a far-right government due to the French far right party gaining a lot of support.
Now I’m not political, but it feels like in the last few years, the far-right has exceeded itself and had a surge in popularity. Is this the case? And if so, wtf is fuelling it?
The mechanisms by which civilizations grow, stagnate, collapse and recover have fascinated people since at least the ancient Greek philosophers.
Civilizations initially grow because they make life better for the average citizen. Cooperation leads to more reliable food and more babies survive to make more babies.
After some time some stressors on the civilization lead to widespread conflict. Historically this have been linked mostly to famine and plagues. Economic instability can also lead to a civilizations segmentation and conflict. The “fall of civilizations” is historically the segmentation of large civilizations into smaller entities as people rally around a local leader who promises them the “right” things.
So what’s happening right now - a shit ton of stressors.
Birth rates are negative in most industrialized nations. This indicates that on a widespread basis, globally people do not feel that they have the resources to raise kids.
Climate change is triggering serious fears of famine. This is why denying the obvious heat increases is so popular. “Oh no, it’s not the hottest and dryest summer on record. Our crops are hunky doey.”
Plagues - Well COVID happened and triggered a lot of widespread fear. That disease is still seen as a curse from the supernatural for most humans instead of a biological inevitability was made crystal clear.
Wars - stealing someone else’s resources looks pretty good when you fear there is not enough resources to go around. “It’s too hot in the U.S. to grow crops, let’s invade Canada and steal Greenland!”
So humans are doing what they have always done when stressed. Look for someone who looks like a “strong leader” who can make things right in their world again.