Are you blaming the EU for the rise in fascism? Cracking new Brexit angle that one. 
Personally I think it’s down to the widening in poverty vs wealth which has created an angry electorate. Combine that with a political vacuum and extremists pedalling lies fill the void.
Not new, the EU is responsible for the rise in nationalism across the EU. It was one of my reasons for voting to leave.
Yes I saw that. I’ll admit it’s not something I had picked up on from the EU but does in part explain our nationalist decision to leave.
Still can’t see how that explains Trump though.
It feels like people are screaming for strong and fair governments and it’s only the far right that is able to capture that message
I was reading this article by Jan Techau in 2016. I know its an old article but I think it shows that his points are still valid and the EU hasn’t really improved a lot in this area.
And it made some points I agree with about EU almost considering nationalism as a naughty word. Instead they should be trying to make the concept of the EU ‘one better’. Foster a sense in citizens of belonging to their nation state, their nation and to the EU as a whole. Now I realise there is a pretty serious difference between nationalism and the extreme nationalism of Fascism. Do countries have that sense of ‘belonging’ to the EU? My take is that some countries do. @Klopptimist style anecdotes but I have always felt that belonging to EU with people I have met in France for instance. Sure none of them agree with everything the EU does, and even the EU fanboys might show disgust at some of the decisions, but they have that sense of belonging. Despite Le Pen making it to the final two I don’t think extreme nationalism is as rife in France as it appears. I won’t comment on Italy as I don’t know much about it.
Circling back to the UK, there doesn’t even appear to be consensus on ‘belonging’ to the UK. I am sure all Englanders do, because they don’t see that relationship as equality but more ownership. England is the parent ‘state’ and all the other nations are its subjects. Who was the politician who suggested radically changing the governance in the UK by almost modifying the UK so that it is a collection of semi-autonomous nation states, including England? That’s an idea I would get behind if I was actually British. Or had a (non sports-related) nationalist bone in my body. I think the UK needs to crawl before it can walk and it needs to make it feel all the non-England home nations are on the same equal footing as England, which doesn’t exist at this point. The same points Techau makes in relation to the EU also apply to the UK.
So how does it explain the US, Brazil, India etc etc?
This is a worldwide problem, and before anyone in the UK starts feeling smug, just look at the direction your governing party is going.
Well I didn’t say that the EU is the cause of nationalism. I said they haven’t been flexible enough to work with it. Nationalism exists across the world. We could start an entire thread about nationalism and we could go on about why its on the rise again but there are so many parts to that - mob mentality due to rise of social media is one of many that springs to mind that is often neglected.
Sorry GK, wasn’t aimed at you.
I find this sort of stance particularly disturbing on a couple of levels. One it assumes that “what happens in Europe stays in Europe” and two, and possibly more importantly, we walked away instead of finding the language to influence it.
Yes, I don’t see the logic in it. How can an organisation which is dedicated to fostering co-operation across borders and the promotion of shared values, be responsible for nationalism?
I don’t see it either. As you said, it’s a world-wide phenomenon. @Noo_Noo is probably right that the chasm between super-rich and poor has widened up too much in the last decades. That might explain an angry electorate a bit everywhere. There are also the politicians and the media-whores who have entirely stopped working for the majority of their electorate and readers, and work only for the richest part of it. In some countries, this bias towards the richest part of the society is as plain as day-light, in Europe the UK for instance.
As for Italy, fascism never really got away to be fair. Berlusconi was a fascist, even though he never officially admit to be one. But he had numerous links with fascists. Even before him, the fascists never really ceased to exert influence on the country. The difference is that now, they feel strong and bold enough to openly claim a return to a full-fascist governance (ie. suppression or at least, weakening of democratic institutions). Hopefully, their arrogance will be their downfall, fingers crossed.
That being said, Draghi is credited as a center-left politician by the media, but he’s nothing of that sort. He’s a former Goldman-Sachs leader, and defends his clients. I’d call him corrupt as fuck, and the Italians have probably had enough of that as well.
Not sure if this is the main part of your argument, but I’d disagree with the characterisation that former Goldman Sachs leaders will necessarily be in the pocket of large companies. Look at one of their youngest ever partners, Gary Gensler. He’s hardly been a friend to them since he left, despite ample opportunity to do so…
I agree, I don’t think there is a UK as such anymore. It’s England and the rest with the political landscape deliberately forcing down the other nations and slowly imparting their shape on those nations. Kind of nice to see Scotland resisting that without actually fully knowing what the SNP stand for other than independence.
I’d never heard of that idea for the UK. It’s a fascinating one and I will try and find who was behind it. At the moment we’re further from that idea than we’ve ever been because as you say England believes it owns the other nations in the Union. But as it could be considered a mini EU I wonder what those who are opposed to such an arrangement feel about it?
It wasn’t really the main part, but still… there might be the odd exception (I’ve no idea about Gensler tbh), but I don’t think that Draghi is among them. He’s a wily old fox and has a long track record behind him. Center left? Nope. He’s a neocon to the core imo, and it’s only the current strength of the fascists who make him come across as a ‘moderate’ these days.
Just to be clear, I wasn’t saying that he was. I was saying that we should be wary of drawing conclusions based on where he used to work. You should see how liberal some bankers actually are…
You are of course right, even though Goldman Sachs have been known for having some people serving their interests beyond their career at the firm.
Interesting that PiS doesn’t even make it onto this list.
They’re bigger than Confederation Liberty and Independence so I can only surmise that they’re not considered nationalist enough?! If that’s the yardstick the picture is even more stark in reality.
New entrant
Third largest in Portuguese parliament.
They obviously haven’t had enough of Salazar, or have already forgotten eveything about him and his regime… 
