Fears of Terror and Economic Insecurity Are Fueling the Rise of Right-Wing Populism

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Facebook Page

12 December 15

wo fears are feeding the rise of right-wing populism in Europe and in the United States: economic insecurity and terrorism. They’re contributing to Donald Trump's rise here, Victor Orban in Hungary, Marine Le Pen in France, and right-wing groups like Golden Dawn in Greece and the Freedom Party in Austria, both with neo-Nazi roots.

If the dominant fear were just economic insecurity, left-wing populism would surge – as it did in the U.S. in the 1930s, and promote the economic reforms of that era. If the fear were mainly connected to national defense, as it was in the U.S. in the war years of the 1940s, it would reinforce social solidarity and promote wider social insurance, as it did in post-war era.

But the double-barreled impact of economic insecurity and domestic terrorism is now fanning the anti-establishment right. Europe lived through the tragic consequences of that rightward lurch in the 1930s and 1940s. No sane person would want that repeated. No responsible American would want it to occur in the United States. What do you think?