Janan Ganesh is perhaps my favorite news commentator. In a recent column, he counters the widely held belief that the rise of the global far-right is a reaction to neoliberalism.
Right-wing populism is on the rise in France, perhaps the least economically liberal country. Government spending there accounts for more than half of the country’s gross national product. Social spending, i.e. cash transfers and the like, is also among the top in the OECD. On the other side of the Alps, the Italian government is not far behind in both total spending and social spending. The far right is not only successful there; it is a power at home. Meanwhile, in Australia, where the government is small, mainstream parties are holding up; the centre-left is in power.
Ganesh also discusses the view that manufacturing job losses are a problem, noting that the far right has recently gained strength in Germany, where manufacturing accounts for a much higher share of GDP than other Western countries, adding:
If you think that’s odd, consider neighboring Austria, perhaps the most puzzling case study in the Western world: It has one of the highest public spending rates, a manufacturing sector roughly the same size as Germany’s and a thriving far-right party.
Ganesh then raises some interesting questions about the politics of neoliberalism in the United States.
How did Democrats come to think that America wanted or needed nationalistic economic transformation? The “build back better” slogan implies widespread dissatisfaction with the pre-COVID world, which wasn’t there. On the eve of the pandemic, economic confidence was at its highest level since 2000.
There are many other interesting things to read.
PS: Although he does not discuss developing countries, his hypothesis also applies to the rightward shift in politics in India and China. It seems quite a stretch to see the rise of Modi and Xi as a reaction to “neoliberalism” in India and China.
