Just last year, two radical right-wing populist parties won major elections in both Argentina and the Netherlands. Those are not isolated cases: Hungary, Italy, Israël and India are already led by radical right parties, and the radical right is also represented within the Finnish government. Moreover, the radical right’s popularity continues to grow in countries such as France, Germany and Austria, where in the last case it is considered the favourite for this year’s legislative elections. This momentum has been also reflected in the recent EU election, where the radical right made significant progress in a number of countries. With its current success in Western democracies, and numerous upcoming elections in 2024, it is crucial to consider the impact of radical right parties on democracy. The ideology and goals they pursue pose a strong risk to the stability of democracies.
Radical right parties are defined by their anti-system stance, specifically vis-a-vis liberal democracy. While the radical right do not explicitly seek to remove democracy as a system, the ideology has an authoritarian aspect hardly compatible with liberal democracy. They consequently oppose the liberal system and seek to undercut its institutions. Even though the degradation of the overall quality of democracy isn’t a declared goal of radical right parties, liberal institutions are a crucial part of the democratic process; they are defined by their function of guaranteeing individual rights, the rule of law and the accountability of government. Without the safeguarding liberal institutions offer, there is very little to oppose a democratic decline towards authoritarianism.
Current anti-liberal governments can give us strong insight on the “illiberal” democratic experience. A clear democratic backslide has been witnessed in many countries concerned, and while the impact of radical right parties on democracies is generally significant, some cases are more telling than others. India’s democracy suffered a heavy toll following the election of Narendra Modi in 2014, leader of the radical right party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Freedom of speech and independent press have been severely deteriorated through harassment and intimidation of many opposing voices, notably from civil society. New laws have been created in order to facilitate imprisonment without solid basis and to discriminate against the Muslim community. The BJP’s agenda is now very difficult to oppose because of the lack of political and judicial accountability. The Supreme Court’s powers and independence have been severely undermined. As political opponents have been disqualified in elections, autocratic tendencies in India could eventually bury its democracy completely.
During his mandate, Donald Trump spread misinformation and constantly attacked the press that criticised his actions. His failed attempts to overrule the 2020 elections shows that attacks against liberal institutions meet varying degrees of success, which can depend on many factors. Those two cases remind us still that despite basing their legitimacy on democratic elections, authoritarian tendencies are very much present within radical right parties, which put liberal institutions and therefore democracy itself under great pressure.
The rule of Victor Orban and his political party Fidesz are the perfect embodiment of those risks, since Fidesz’s goal to reject liberal democracy is characteristic of all radical right parties. After his reelection in 2010, he managed to purge the liberal institutions monitoring the government’s actions (notably the constitutional court) and overhauled the constitution. Furthermore, he promoted laws that restricted the freedom of speech and other fundamental rights, and carried out partisan gerrymandering to help the governing party remain in power. In the span of four years, Hungary has faced a steep democratic decline, shocking in its swiftness and its depth.
Surely, the Hungarian example represents an extreme scenario of the radical right experience. Radical right leaders do not necessarily achieve such drastic changes. But the constant undermining of liberal institutions, the main safeguards against democratic backsliding, creates a systematic risk for democracy.
That risk is greater today than ever. Radical right ideologies and tactics are not losing momentum, as indicated by the recent elections mentioned above. Donald Trump, who repeatedly claimed that he would become a “dictator for a day” if elected in order to escape the judiciary system, also raises major concerns for the most powerful (and potentially the most divided) democracy in the world. After continued attacks that have already damaged public trust in liberal institutions (and attacks that go beyond the realm of radical right tactics), this could set a dangerous precedent of American heads of state ignoring, or trying to ignore, crucial checks and balances within the American political system. This risk truly highlights how the undermining of liberal institutions, either by law or even by words, can erode the democratic process.
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Valentin Julliard, Public Relations Officer for the International Association for Democracy (IAD)Mail: press@iad.ngo
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