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The Reform UK leader depicts his Reform UK party as a unique occurrence that has burst on to the world stage, its rapid ascent an exceptional epochal event. However this week, in every one of the continent's leading countries and from India and Southeast Asia to the United States and Argentina, hard-right, anti-immigrant, anti-globalization parties like his are also leading in the opinion polls.

During recent Czech voting, the rightwing, pro-Putin populist a prominent figure overthrew prime minister Petr Fiala. National Rally, which has just forced the resignation of yet another France's leader, is ahead the polls for both the presidential race and parliament. In the German nation, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) is currently the leading party. Hungary’s Fidesz party, Robert Fico’s pro-Russian Slovakian coalition and the Italian political group are already in power, while the Freedom party of Austria (FPÖ), the Netherlands’ Freedom party (PVV) and Belgium’s Vlaams Belang – all hardline nationalists – are part of an international coalition of opponents of global cooperation, inspired by far-right propagandists like Steve Bannon, seeking to overthrow the international rule of law, diminish human rights and undermine international collaboration.

Rise of Populist Nationalism

The populist nationalist surge reveals a recent undeniable reality that supporters of democracy ignore at great risk: an authoritarian ethnic nationalism – once thought defeated with the historic barrier – has supplanted neoliberalism as the dominant ideology of our age, giving us a world of priorities: “US priority”, “India first”, “Chinese emphasis”, “Russian primacy”, “group priority” and often “exclusive group focus” regimes. It is this nationalist sentiment that helps explain why the world is now composed of 91 autocracies and only 88 democracies, and this ideology is the force behind the violations of global human rights standards not just by Russia in Ukraine but in almost every one of the world’s 59 cross-border conflicts and civil wars.

Understanding the Underlying Forces

Crucial to grasp the root causes, widespread globally, that have driven this recent nationalist era. It begins with a widely felt sense that a globalisation that was open but not inclusive has been a free for all that has been unjust to all.

Over the past ten years, political figures have not only been delayed in addressing to the many people who feel excluded and left behind, but also to the shifting dynamics of world economic influence, transitioning from a unipolar world once dominated by the US to a multi-power landscape of competing superpowers, and from a system of international law to a might-makes-right approach. The nationalist ideology that this has incited means open commerce is giving way to protectionism. Where economics used to drive politics, the nationalist agendas is now driving economic decisions, and already over a hundred nations are running protectionist strategies characterized by bringing production home and friend-shoring and by restrictions on cross-border trade, foreign funding and technology transfer, sinking international cooperation to its lowest ebb since 1945.

Optimism in Public Opinion

But all is not lost. The situation is not fixed, and even as it solidifies we can see optimism in the pragmatism of the world's population. In a poll conducted for a major foundation, of thousands of individuals in dozens of nations we find a clear majority are less receptive to an divisive nationalist agenda and more inclined to embrace global teamwork than many of the leaders who rule over them.

Globally there is, maybe unexpectedly, only a limited number of staunch global cooperation opponents representing a minority of the global population (even if a quarter in the United States currently) who either feel coexistence between diverse communities is unattainable or have a win-lose perspective that if they or their country do well, it has to be at the expense of others doing badly.

But there are an additional group at the other end, whom we might call dedicated globalists, who either still see international collaboration through open trade as a positive sum win-win, or are what an influential thinker calls “rooted cosmopolitans”.

The Global Majority's Stance

The vast majority of the global public are somewhere in between: not narrow, inward-looking nationalists, as “America first” ideology would suggest, or fully global citizens. They are devoted to their country but don’t see the world as in a never-ending struggle between the “our side” and the “them”, opponents permanently set apart from each other in an unbridgeable divide.

Do the majority in the middle prefer a obligation-light or a responsible global community? Are they prepared to accept obligations beyond their garden gate or city wall? Yes, under certain conditions. A first group, 22%, will back humanitarian action to relieve suffering and are prepared to act out of selflessness, backing disaster relief for disaster zones. Those we might call “good cause” multilateralists empathize of others and have faith in something bigger than themselves.

Another segment comprising a similar percentage are practical cooperators who want to know that any public funds for global progress are used effectively. And there is a third group, roughly a fifth, personally motivated collaborators, who will endorse teamwork if they can see that it advantages them and their local areas, whether it be through ensuring them basic necessities or safety and stability.

Building a Cooperative Majority

Thus a definite majority can be constructed not just for emergency assistance if funds are used wisely but also for global action to deal with worldwide issues, like climate crisis and pandemic prevention, as long as this argument is argued on grounds of wise personal benefit, and if we emphasize the mutual advantages that benefit them and their own country. And thus for those who have long wondered whether we cooperate out of need or if we have a necessity for collaboration, the response is each.

This willingness to work internationally shows how we can turn back the xenophobic tide: we can overcome today’s negative, isolated and often aggressive and authoritarian nationalism that vilifies immigrants, foreigners and “different groups” as long as we champion a optimistic, globally engaged and inclusive patriotism that addresses people’s desire to belong and connects to their everyday worries.

Tackling Key Issues

Although in-depth polls tell us that across the west, illegal immigration is currently the top concern – and it's clear that it must quickly be managed effectively – the public sentiment data also tell us that the people are even more worried by what is happening in their own lives and within their immediate neighborhoods. Last month, a prominent leader gave an emotional speech about how what’s good about Britain can drive out what’s bad, doing so precisely because in most western countries, “dysfunctional” and “in decline” are the words people have for years most frequently used when asked about both our financial system and society.

But as the prime minister also pointed out, the extreme right is more interested in exploiting grievances than ending them. A Reform leader praised a disastrous mini-budget as “an excellent fiscal policy” since the 1980s. But he would also implement a similar plan – what was planned – the biggest ever cuts in public services. Reform’s plan to cut government expenditure by a huge sum would not repair struggling areas but damage them, turn citizen against citizen and destroy any sense of unity. Under a far-right government, you will not be able to afford to be sick, impaired, needy or at-risk. Continually from now on, and in every constituency, the party should be asked which medical facility, which educational institution and which government service will be the first to be cut or closed.

The Stakes and the Alternative

“Faragism” is neoliberalism at its most cruel, more destructive even than monetary policy, and spiteful far beyond austerity. What the public are indicating all over the Western world is that they want their leaders to rebuild our financial systems and our civic societies. “Reform” and its international partners should be revealed repeatedly for policies that would devastate both. And for those of us who believe our greatest achievements could be in the future, we can go beyond pointing out the party's contradictions by presenting a argument for a improved nation that resonates not just to idealists, but to realists, to personal benefit, and to the everyday compassion of the British people.