The most important global political trend of the past decade has been the collapse of the center-right
After holding power in advanced economies for much of the post-war era, backed by an increasingly affluent suburbanite middle class, these historic center-right conservative blocs are losing ground to radical-right alternatives.
The new parties promote aggressive policies on migration, disregard economic orthodoxy and are much more open to authoritarianism.
Taken together, their rise creates a crisis for liberal democracy.
These parties, like UKIP in the UK or the National Front (now National Rally) in France, also appealed to non-graduate voters in former industrial areas who now felt abandoned by the left and looked down on by those in charge. This emergent radical right was then given a significant boost by the global financial crisis.
In the US this took the form of the “Tea Party” movement, which drove the Republicans in a more extreme direction.
So is the center-right dead? Or can it recover by refocusing on the concerns of its old middle-class, professional base? There is no option but to try. Aping the populist right has only legitimized it while elevating its key issues.
If the center-right is going to return to relevance, it can’t rely on tales of past glories from bygone decades. Its leaders will need to rebuild the coalitions that sustained them for so long — and convince voters to trust them once again.
Sam Freedman Bloomberg January 2, 2026
Kommentarer