The centre left’s failure has left a vacuum that’s been filled by those offering hope, rather than a technocratic status quoJonathan White is professor of politics at the LSEAt first glance, today’s politicians appear to have shifted their eyes from the future to the present and the past. The way to win power, it seems, is to make Maga-style appeals to the glories of yesteryear, while the best hope of keeping it is to pursue the short-term gains that will emerge before the next election. Observers of democracy have long said such patterns are inbuilt: for the 19th-century thinker Alexis de Tocqueville, “It is this clear perception of the future, founded on enlightenment and experience, that democracy will often lack. The people feel much more than they reason.” Yet today’s politicians, rather than being oblivious to the future, seem increasingly obsessed with it.The ascendant far right in North America, Europe, Israel and beyond finds much of its appeal in stories about what lies ah...
The article by Jonathan White in The Guardian examines how the far-right, including figures like Donald Trump, has positioned itself as the vanguard of the future, leveraging nostalgia for the past and a vision of the future to garner support. In contrast, the center-left is criticized for its technocratic approach, focusing on data, metrics, and specific policy targets rather than presenting a broad, transformative vision.
The far-right strategy involves exploiting anxieties about cultural decline and demographic shifts, framing the future as a time of impending crisis and the need for drastic action. This approach is likened to historical movements, such as fascism, emphasizing unpredictability and disruption to appeal to their base. The narrative offered by the far-right is compelling because it presents a shared, dramatic vision of the future, appealing to collective fears and hopes.
In contrast, the center-left is seen as overly focused on managerial and predictive strategies, such as GDP growth and climate targets, which lack a broader narrative. This approach, while precise, is argued to be less effective in mobilizing support compared to the far-right's more dramatic and shared vision. The article suggests that the center-left's emphasis on concrete targets and calculations makes its vision less compelling, highlighting the political effectiveness of the far-right's approach.
