The global rise of the far right

Time magazine says Far-right politics began during the French Revolution. In 1789, the National Assembly split along ideological lines: those supporting royal authority and tradition sat on the president’s right, while anti-monarchist revolutionaries advocating social equality sat on the left.

This essay argues that modern neo-conservatism appeared in the late twentieth century and became closely tied to capitalist economic strategies, especially after Ronald Reagan was elected in 1981. Before proceeding, it is important to define some key terms.

The ‘far right’ refers to political movements or ideologies characterised by extreme nationalist, anti-immigrant, or authoritarian views. ‘Neo-conservatism’ is a political philosophy that emerged in the United States, advocating for free-market capitalism, a strong national defence, and traditional social values. ‘Capitalism’ is an economic system based on private ownership and the pursuit of profit, where markets are allowed to operate with minimal government interference. Reagan’s support for market-driven policies and the rise of conservative religious groups connected neo-conservative ideas to unregulated capitalism.

By examining these changes, the essay shows how neo-liberal politics and capitalism have worked together to reshape Western political power and today’s policies.

During his presidency, Ronald Reagan helped the rise of neo-conservatism. His administration supported groups such as the Moral Majority, led by Jerry Falwell, and the Christian Coalition, which gave conservative religious organisations greater political power. Reagan’s stances against abortion and for school prayer made it more acceptable for religious groups to get involved in both education and politics. This led to a conservative shift in which church and state became more closely connected, and religious groups played a larger role in conservative politics, shaping the modern Republican Party, neoconservatism, and movements like The Tea Party.

Reagan changed mainstream American conservatism into a powerful political force, creating a right-wing, anti-establishment model that changed the political landscape. Although Reagan worked within a democracy, his administration built the alliances and structures that critics and historians link to today’s hard-right and populist movements.

Throughout the late twentieth century, the ideal of American exceptionalism – centred on individual freedom, free speech, and the pursuit of wealth – became increasingly intertwined with capitalist imperatives for continual economic expansion. Policies such as Reagan’s supply-side economics and 1980s deregulation promoted private enterprise and personal prosperity, reinforcing a narrative linking personal success to national economic growth. This convergence shows how the values associated with the American dream were used to justify and sustain capitalism’s drive for growth.

Evangelical churches began preaching a gospel of wealth, spreading this message worldwide and leading to the rise of megachurches. The Bible says, ‘Give, and it will be given back to you.’ Australia fully embraced this idea.

Then Margaret Thatcher appeared on the scene, signalling a shift that would, over the next few decades, make the wealthy even richer. Thatcher made sure workers knew their place.

The far right gained enormous power, while the poor and middle class ended up helping to build more wealth and privilege for others, often without realising it.

Now, let’s fast forward a few decades and look at what this conservative and capitalist experiment has led to.

There is no doubt that greed rules. “Greed is good”, and it can only be obtained via unrestricted capitalism and conservative ideology.

What eventuates in America usually repeats itself in Australia, so, as night follows day, Australian Far Right parties have emerged, such as the Australia First Party, Australian Defence League, One Nation, Rise Up Australia, United Australia, and a few others. And we can add to those the Liberal and National parties, who, after suffering a monumental defeat at the last election, have decided to go further to the right.

The reader doesn’t need me to produce statistical data to prove that the top 1 per cent have more wealth than the rest of us put together.

And the reader doesn’t really need me to prove just how much corruption there is in the world, that the GFC crisis was born of greed and that the world suffered enormously because of it. The extreme right made heaps from Covid, and their carnage continues with Trump leading the way.

Greece is but one example of a country in which the wealthy thought it their right over many years not to pay tax.

Along came George Bush and, over time, gave three trillion dollars in tax cuts to wealthy Americans. Later, he spent another three trillion on a war in which he told the biggest porky in contemporary American history to justify it.

Everywhere you look, you see the rise of the far right; in France, Australia, Germany and Italy. People flock to them. They latch onto the Trumps of this world. They know he is an idiot, but he will speak for them.

Nor do you need me to tell you that many political systems are corrupt and we all suffer for it. So, too, are our financial institutions, our banks, our trade unions, and the whole corporate world.

You don’t need me to tell you just how much all this is based on racism. Xenophobia is the right’s greatest friend.

In Australia, our very democracy is under threat from governments that are extremist in their views. A self-serving government with a hypocrite as its leader. A government that places capitalism before environmentalism.

In 2014, it was beyond doubt that the Abbott/Hockey budget sought to make the poor contribute more to the wealth of the rich and privileged. Its budget of that year was universally condemned as the unfairest ever.

His predecessor, of course, did more to damage the institutions of our democracy than any other. People were angry at anything and everything.

The people had had all the bullshit, the lying, they could take, and some expressed their attitude by walking away from the system altogether.

Others became so fed up with all the sanitised political gratuitous rhetoric that insulted their intelligence. It had been going on for far too long, and people were up for a protest. Australians are often slow to see these things, but when we do look out. We vote accordingly, and they did on 3 May 2025.

What we are seeing worldwide is people ‘protesting’. Protesting at their treatment. More often than not, they are ignorant of the facts and are just protesting against anything. They just want their voice to be heard.

For 10 years, Australians lived with Labor’s self-indulgent leadership wrangles and the Coalition far-right ‘born to rule’ mentality.

Every time you read a newspaper, you saw how corrupt Australian politics had become.

I believe that scandal after political scandal at last woke us from our apathy. We were so angry that we wanted to take it out on someone. How dare they treat us like this? Fuck the polls. We don’t give a shit about the rights and wrongs; we just want to be treated with some respect.

People were disgusted with Turnbull’s caving into the ratbags on the right of his party over climate change. He has turned out to be a bigger liar than Abbott or Morrison. As hard as that might be.

All the economic and social woes of the world stem from the rise of the right and unregulated capitalism.

The election of Trump by the American people in a moment of momentous bloody-mindedness was the pinnacle of capitalism’s success.

To elect a perverted, obnoxious, blatant liar, sexist, racist, misogynist and narcissist as their leader may have been an unprecedented act of deliberate self-harm by a people who had lost faith in the world’s greatest democracy.

Names like Sanders, Trudeau, Corbyn, Albanese and Macron gave rise to the hope that people of better virtue might rise above the ugliness of today’s politics and create a better world. It was a forlorn hope. There is much to do.

Some thoughts for the day

“Power is a malevolent possession when you are prepared to forgo your principles and your country’s wellbeing for the sake of it”.

“The gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages… It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom or our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile” (Robert Kennedy, 1968).