The advance of the right on a global level has caused alarm. Various regions of the world have seen the establishment of these types of regimes, that are underpinned by hostile agendas for human rights, migration, minorities or the environment.
The worry isn’t unjustified however, it is impossible not to see the factors that have led to this type of political expression. The support from broad sectors of the population of these regimes shows dissatisfaction with the inefficient leadership of the governments from centre or left.
Corruption, cronyism, influence peddling, unemployment and economic precariousness are elements that have rushed the turn to the right.
Anti-establishment right
In some respects, support for the global right is often referred to as an anti-establishment or anti-system, against the administrations that indebted to those they have governed. When observing the consolidation of power of three figures that have formed right-wing governments - Trump, Modi and Bolsonaro, you can see the that discontentment with their predecessors has been decisive in damaging democratic systems, through the growing support for authoritarian figures.
While Obama maintained notable levels of acceptance, many sectors of society felt excluded from his political program. The population of Midwest, far from the financial district of Wall Street, came together to underpin the triumph of Donald Trump.
As historian Morris Berman points out in The Roots of American Failure, the Obama government scheme, continued along the same line of reaganism, all the advantages and privileges fell to Wall Street which, in fact, subjugated the administration under its dictates and needs, increasingly deteriorating the middle and lower classes for the benefit of financial and business elites.
Similarly, Bolsonaro's victory in Brazil was forged by the mistakes of the left-wing governments. Accusations aimed at Lula Da Silva about brides from Odebrecht alongside the accusations towards Dilma Rousseff for corruption, diversion of resources of Petrobras for her campaign and the definitive “crimes of responsibility” that ended with her “impeachment” (which was considered as a coup status by some analysts).
These were relevant factors in the Brazilian presidential election and resulted in growing support for Bolsonaro, despite the dirty strategies of the current president such as the fabrication of false news against Fernando Haddad, the opposition candidate.
In the case of India, the arrival of Modi was also possible due to the incompetence of the Congress party and the corruption scandals that since 2011 had already led to the anti-corruption movement led by Anna Hazare, a 73-year-old activist who is compared to Gandhi.
In this sense, in 2014 and again in 2019, voters opted for a character with an ominous past relating to the anti-Muslim riots that took place in 2002, but with an effective developmentalist discourse that was well received by the population, who viewed the economic aspect of Modi’s government as more significant than to the issue of social justice for the Muslim minority.
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