Transnational Alliances: How Does the Radical Right Undermine the International Liberal Order?

In a highly complex and interconnected world, there has been a notable rise in nationalist and populist movements in recent years across Europe and North America. These movements adopt a conservative approach that blends nationalism and populism, alongside anti-globalization sentiments and opposition to open borders for migrants. A prominent example of this is the stance of former U.S. President Donald Trump during his first presidency, which continues to inform his vision as he embarks on his second term beginning January 20, 2025. Similar nationalist and populist movements have emerged in Canada, Europe, and Latin America.

In this context, the book World of the Right: Radical Conservatism and Global Order, published in 2024 by the University of Cambridge and authored by a group of contributors, highlights these nationalist and populist movements (the radical right). Although they may appear diverse on the surface, they share a common skepticism towards liberal democracy and its institutions and prevailing values, even if they do not openly express hostility towards them.

Accordingly, the book tracks how nationalist movements seek to establish their presence within the core liberal institutions of Western societies and nations to undermine national sovereignty and traditional values. Additionally, these movements focus on civilizational identity and exhibit aversion to liberal internationalism, thus creating room for coordination with non-liberal countries like China and Russia, which share the goal of undermining Western liberal hegemony and the U.S.-EU-led international order.

The World of the Right and Gramsci:

The contemporary radical right combines nationalist and local tendencies on one hand, with global inclinations on the other, both conceptually and organizationally. In this context, the right seeks to mobilize groups produced by liberalism and globalization, which have since experienced marginalization due to globalization itself. This has led to the formation of transnational and cross-regional alliances toward a singular objective. In other words, ideologies opposing global liberal hegemony serve as a general framework uniting various actors and agendas despite the diversity of their contexts and concerns.

Within the book’s framework, the term “World of the Right” is the product of a fifty-year ideological project influenced by the thoughts of the Italian Marxist thinker Antonio Gramsci. He pointed out that political power is not limited to coercion; it also involves “consent,” with culture playing a vital role in shaping this consent. In this context, power becomes dominant only when three variables interact: ideas, institutions, and material capabilities. Through this interaction, a “historical bloc” emerges from an alliance of social classes aiming to consolidate its power by unifying global standards. However, opposing forces are expected to emerge against this dominant advance, leading to open class conflict where these forces form “counter-hegemonies.” If this counter-hegemony grows sufficiently, it may absorb the current historical bloc and replace it with a new one.

In light of this, the book observes that radical right-wing forces from France to Brazil and India have explicitly adopted “Gramscian” ideas in their efforts to overturn leftist cultural hegemony, create new historical blocs, and mobilize anti-hegemonic movements. This strategy has taken decades of preparation, tracing its roots back to Western Europe, particularly the Parisian new right of the 1960s. For instance, the French right-wing journalist Dominique Venner in the 1970s called for what became known as “Gramscian rightism,” focusing on critiquing contemporary politics, social life, and globalization, based on the premise that the world is dominated by “managerialism.”

American right-wing members, such as philosopher James Burnham, embraced the managerialist ideology that emerged from the anti-Stalinist left in the 1920s, perceiving in the 1950s that the so-called “new class” of technicians, lawyers, accountants, and corporate executives shared more commonalities across countries and cultures than any other groups within those nations and cultures. The opposition to this alleged class formed the conceptual foundations upon which contemporary right-wing ideology is built.

Today, radical right-wing forces worldwide routinely draw on Gramsci’s ideas as a strategic source of inspiration. For example, the key thinker associated with former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro (January 1, 2019 – December 31, 2022) is often referred to as “Gramsci of Brazil.”

The Propagation of Right-Wing Ideas:

The authors of the book argue that the radical right’s struggle against hegemony in the twenty-first century has not been confined to the intellectual realm but has also extended to practical application. In this context, social media and the digital world have played a crucial role in disseminating these ideas, alongside their promotion in traditional arenas such as universities and academic publishing. Over the past decade, there has been significant growth in radical right-wing publishing houses that have reissued classic right-wing texts and published new writings. These publishers have prioritized translating radical right ideas from Europe, particularly those related to the struggle against hegemony, into English to enhance the spread of these concepts.

The authors suggest that right-wing supporters are keen to build an ideological history that differentiates them from fascism, asserting their right to exist within universities, even aiming to transform these institutions to align with their ideologies. In this context, the radical right aims to establish new universities and educational institutions to promote its intellectual vision and train a new elite. For instance, in Hungary, under Viktor Orbán’s leadership, at least two new universities were created to educate and train radical right elites. These universities aim to instill right-wing values against the old liberal elites. In France, Marion Maréchal, the niece of Marine Le Pen, founded a school in Lyon dedicated to training a new conservative radical elite. These educational institutions collaborate with elite institutions worldwide, reflecting broad alliances that enhance the radical right’s impact at a global level.

Visions of the International System:

Despite the vast diversity within right-wing movements globally, three fundamental similarities can be identified in their visions for the international system:

Firstly, the radical right opposes globalization, but not necessarily internationalism; they do not seek to abolish all international institutions like the United Nations or the World Trade Organization. Instead, they aim to reform these institutions from within to implement policies that enhance national sovereignty. The effects of such efforts can already be observed in the European Union.

Secondly, radical right proponents believe that the world consists of multiple cultures or civilizations, which represent the true value of the world. They perceive that global liberalism has destroyed this cultural diversity. This belief allows the radical right to forge alliances with peoples and nations of the Global South, who also feel that their cultures are under threat or devalued by global liberalism.

Thirdly, the radical right endorses a multipolar world, but not from the perspective of international relations theories; rather, from a civilizational pluralism viewpoint. Their vision entails a world composed of diverse civilizations that cooperate when necessary, but do not converge towards a common culture or universal values. This outlook enables building alliances with other cultures or countries, including non-liberal nations like China and Russia, which share similar civilizational perspectives.

Rejection of International Policies:

In general, the authors posit that radical right-wing figures are not globalists; while they possess a distinctive culture that sets them apart, they recognize the diversity and differences among themselves. The idea of the right to preserve one’s unique culture, traditions, and values has found wide acceptance. In this context, the authors argue that these groups resist Western impositions, including UN policies on gender equality and LGBTQ rights.

For instance, Russia has adopted a stance opposing Western imperialism, advocating for a multipolar world order based on respect for cultural diversity and forming alliances with Global South countries, as reflected in the public statements of Russian officials on imperialism, civilization, nationalism, and more. These statements and ideas should not be underestimated, as they contribute to destabilizing the foundational pillars of the liberal international order in the long run, according to the book.

The book further adds that the recognition of differences among radical right movements worldwide allows them to reject fascistic notions of civilizational or racial superiority. Conversely, they claim that it is liberals who promote the idea of superiority over the rest of the world, alongside the efforts of liberal institutions like the International Criminal Court, the World Bank, and other liberal bodies to enforce certain concepts globally that are unsuitable for all cultures, according to right-wing supporters. Since institutions are a crucial element in structuring the new order according to Gramscian thought, radical right movements face a significant challenge in delegitimizing existing institutions and establishing alternative bodies that align with their visions, a task that is far from easy. Consequently, the radical right no longer outright opposes existing institutions but strives to consolidate its existence, influence, and impact within them.

There has been a prevailing belief that right-wing movements are incapable of competing against the entrenched power of existing liberal global institutions and that the most the radical right could achieve is a limited role in a coalition government in a small European nation. However, in recent years, these movements have shown vitality in major countries and even reached the presidency of the United States.

In conclusion, the book illustrates how radical conservative thinkers have developed long-term anti-hegemonic strategies aimed at challenging the prevailing social and political systems at national and international levels. This ideological project centers around a critique of liberal globalization, which sought to rally cross-sectional alliances against a common enemy – the “new class” of global managerial elites accused of undermining national sovereignty, values, and cultural traditions. The book also highlights that although the radical right may not be a unified political movement, its calls for sovereignty, civilizational systems, and multipolarity have facilitated the creation of a complex strategic convergence with non-liberal nations like China and Russia, along with nations and peoples in the Global South. This renders the potential consequences of the right for the future of the liberal global order profound and far-reaching.

Source:
Rita Abrahamsen, Jean-François Drolet, Michael C. Williams, Srdjan Vucetic, Karin Narita, and Alexandra Gheciu. World of the Right: Radical Conservatism and Global Order. Cambridge University Press, 2024.