The unexpected triumph of António Costa’s Socialist party in Portugal’s elections this week continues a cautious comeback by Europe’s centre-left....All five Nordic countries are led by centre-left governments; Italy’s Democratic party is a member of its ruling coalition; Pedro Sánchez’s PSOE heads a progressive alliance in Spain; and a social democrat chancellor, Olaf Scholz, leads a three-party left-liberal coalition in Germany.
All of this, says the Guardian's Jon Henley, "is further good news for a movement that five years ago looked in terminal decline."
More broadly, terminal decline was what people thought about democracy itself after Trump and Brexit and Hungary got everyone in a tizzy.
But it turned out to be just the usual political rhythms. Sometimes liberals are up and sometimes they're down. Sometimes the populist right makes inroads, other times they get tossed out on their bums. In Britain, Boris Johnson is on the verge of self-destruction with an approval rating below 30% and a party that's suddenly nearly ten points behind Labor. In the United States, Trump failed reelection and the White House and both houses of Congress are now in Democratic hands.
None of this is cause for complacency. A big part of the reason that right-wing populism has faded is that the left fought back. If that hadn't happened, who knows where we'd be.
So we keep fighting. Forever. That's how politics works.
We must never be complacent about democracy. It is so fragile these days, with the likes of the cheeto and his mephitic progeny.
Lol, there is no such thing as "right wing populism" . All those bozos are heavily tied into debt based globalism. In Europe's case anti-"western" europe pro plutocracy. Look at the poor UK. Sorta got kicked out of the EU and now needs Sino/American support.
Populism is left wing and only left wing. Power to the people.
"But it turned out to be just the usual political rhythms. Sometimes liberals are up and sometimes they're down."
It's not the rhythm that is alarming but the amplitude of the rightward swing. Who would have thought just a few years ago that the Republican party will declare an armed attack on the nation's seat of government "a legitimate political discourse?" https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/04/us/politics/republicans-jan-6-cheney-censure.html
Nailed it.
+1
"Usual political rhythms" is probably an overreach. It's definitely been a seismic event. But earthquakes come and earthquakes go. We just have to pick up the pieces. And it's not over; there've been many aftershocks and there's almost certainly more to come.
The GQP's present rhythm is the Fulgencista despotism of Fascist Gloria Estefan's Maquina Sonica.
Rhythms?? Assumes a restoring force. Define the restoring force please.
If there's a restoring "force," it's that the various strains of authoritarianism simply aren't very effective and efficient at governance. Sooner or later enough people wise up to this.
I should add, even if the "rhythim" thesis is correct (I tend to agree that liberalization/democratization have tended to ebb and flow in waves, not just in the US but globally, over the last 300 years), there's hardly a guarantee the process will be smooth or satisfactory this time around, at least in the America. I'm not sure any of the other high income democracies have the equivalent of the Arizona state legislature, or the Republican-dominated Supreme Court (nor indeed the overtly affirmatively pro-authoritarian Republican Party). And none of these other countries are nearly as well-armed. So we'll see.
Sure! Except for that time 80 years ago when fascism tore the world apart, and the 50 years after that of nuclear brinksmanship, politics has behaved like a simple harmonic oscillator between milquetoast liberal and conservative.
Totally predictable and safe.
This seems very optimistic. In a couple of years we may look at this post as one of those famous 'how wrong was THAT' post.
A very long time ago....Lawrence O'Brian, "No Final Victories". Should be required reading.
This needs a long answer, it’s also about how the “center-left “ has evolved during the last two decades and I won’t bother to write a long answer
Just one small remark.
It’s a little weird with the US tradition of using the expression “center-left” and “center-right “ .
I guess it’s because Americans are trying to convert a multiparty political system that is incomprehensible to them into an understandable two party system. All of those countries mentioned is governed by coalition governments
Have a nice day
Oceania is still sorting itself out.
"So we keep fighting. Forever. That's how politics works."
This depends on whether your interest is in the politics or in the culture.
The politics sloshes back and forth (median voter theorem as Kevin loves to remind us) BUT the culture (Overton Window, political *norms*, issues considered politics vs personal, etc etc) moves on a much slower rhythm.
And it's the cultural shifts that are, IMHO, vastly more interesting.
The situation in the US is of course different: None of the countries mentioned has a party that has approximately 50% of the vote in most elections and that is openly anti-small-d-democracy.
Those countries that had that, Hungary, Turkey, are already lost for democracy for the foreseeable future. And if Trump had been as cunning as Orban or Erdogan we would be in the same situation.
Good for the Germans, congrats to the SPD led coalition (somewhat shaky if you ask me). But Merkel's party was never even close to turning fascist. And there are four major parties in Germany. A CDU win would not have been any danger to democracy.