New Delhi: The swearing-in of Christopher Luxon as the new Prime Minister of New Zealand on Monday is yet another manifestation of the world leaning towards right-wing political ideology.
Luxon belongs to the National Party, a centre-right political party in New Zealand. The party’s political ideology is often characterised by a commitment to free-market economic principles, fiscal responsibility, individual freedoms, and a focus on business-friendly policies. The National Party traditionally aligns itself with principles of economic liberalism and a market-oriented approach to governance. It is one of the two major parties that dominate New Zealand’s political landscape, the other being its traditional rival, the Labour Party.
However, Luxon’s government is being formed in coalition with the ACT Party, a right-wing, classical-liberal political party. ACT stands for Association of Consumers and Taxpayers, a pressure group that was founded in 1993 by former National Party MP Derek Quigley and former Labour Party MP Roger Douglas, a figure of the New Right who served as minister of finance under the Fourth Labour Government. Douglas’s neoliberal economic policies, dubbed Rogernomics, transformed New Zealand's economy from a protectionist one into a free market through extensive deregulation.
What is ACT's ideology?
The ACT Party’s ideology is rooted in principles of individual freedom, limited government, free-market economics, and personal responsibility. The party places a strong emphasis on individual freedoms and personal liberties. This may include support for civil liberties, free speech, and protection of individual rights.
Voters in New Zealand shifted right by voting out the Labour Party which was once led by Jacinda Ardern for failing to deliver on its promise of bringing about a transformational change. The issue of inflation dominated campaigning ahead of the polls. The strict measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic that battered the country’s economy also was a major issue.
Argentina too gets a far-right President
Earlier this month, voters in Argentina elected far-right populist leader Javier Milei as the country’s new President. Milei is the leader of the far-right Libertarian Party. During the 2010s, Milei achieved significant notoriety and public exposure in debates developed on Argentine television programmes characterised by insults to his rivals, foul language, and aggressive rhetoric when expressing and debating his ideals and beliefs. He has been described as a controversial, eccentric and ultraconservative economist.
Milei is the leader of the La Libertad Avanza (Liberty Advances) coalition comprising his Libertarian Party and some other right-wing parties. La Libertad Avanza advocates for a reduction in the size and scope of the Argentine state, arguing that its current scale and regulatory framework are detrimental to economic efficiency and individual prosperity. The party emphasises that the primary role of the state should be to protect fundamental rights, including life, liberty, and property.
Milei is nicknamed “the madman” and is often compared to Marvel character Wolverine and former US President Donald Trump. In fact, Trump congratulated Milei saying that he would “make Argentina great again”. Milei won on the plank of radical views of fixing the economy that has been hit by three-digit inflation and increase in poverty levels and is faced with a recession.
Anti-Islam politician is Netherlands' PM-probable
Again, this month itself, another far-right populist leader Geert Wilders was surprisingly elected Prime Minister of the Netherlands. Wilders is the leader of the Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid or PVV in Dutch), a nationalist right-wing political party.
Wilders is known for his anti-Islam stance. He has reportedly asked Muslims in his country to “get out” of the Netherlands and live in an Islamic country if they find the Quran more important than the law of the land and want to lead an Islamic life. So, whether it be Oceanea, or South America or Europe, why are people leaning towards political ideology?
Experts on why right-wingers are coming to power
“In one sense, all countries are facing a range of challenges from economy to jobs to climate change,” Robinder Sachdev, president of the New Delhi-based independent think tank ImagIndia, told ETV Bharat. “While some countries are facing the problem of immigration, others are facing the challenges of radicalism and terrorism.”
Sachdev said that for any political leader, it is always easier to blame some “other” for all the problems. Politicians on the right are blaming this “other” for the problem of immigration. “Right-wing politicians always have a defined enemy or scapegoat as the source of all the problems,” Sachdev said. “Liberals don’t have clear-cut answers to the problems in their countries. This is one reason why rightist politicians are rising in many countries.”
The other reason, he said, is that, though public spending is necessary, politicians on the right blame it as wasteful expenditure which brings no results. “In some countries, following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, some governments instituted large-scale schemes of public spending necessary to stimulate the economy,” Sachdev said. “But these are now being withdrawn. This dynamic also influenced the voters. It is easier for politicians on the right to blame outsiders or the ‘other’ and attract voters.”
According to Abhinav Pandya, founder, director and CEO of the Usanas Foundation think tank, Europe, mainly Western Europe, has shifted to the right because of the problem of immigration. “The right-wing ideology originated in Europe but it has been dormant for quite some time now,” Pandya said. “But now people are very angry with the large number of Islamic immigrants.”
He said that there have been massive pro-Palestine protests in European capitals following the war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza. This has also riled people in many of these countries. According to Pandya, India will see the rise of conservative governments as a good development and, in this connection, cited the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Greece earlier this year.
“Greece is facing the problems of Pakistani immigration and Islamic radicalization. This brings both countries on a common ground,” Pandya said. He said that the rise of right-wing governments is a favourable development for India as these governments “will be less sympathetic towards Pakistan and take a firm stand against jihadi terrorism and radicalisation”.
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