Elections, Rhetoric, and Policy: Comparing the Rise of Far-Right Nationalism in Western Europe and the United States

Western Europe and the United States have both seen an increase in the number of elected officials who represent the far-right ideologically. In this paper, I investigate the reasons behind the rise of far-right nationalist parties, as well as the impacts it has on policy and implications for international relations. To do this, I compared recent election results from Western Europe and the US, the populist rhetoric used by these parties and their candidates, and the subsequent changes in immigration and trade policy due to far-right politicians enacting their agenda. Through this comparison, I concluded first that the elections in Western Europe show a shift in favoring far-right nationalist parties, while in the US, the Republican Party as a whole has shifted further to the right due to the Tea Party movement. Western Europe’s populist rhetoric targets asylumseekers, while in the US the rhetoric is largely anti-Latino in addition to being anti-Muslim. Both regions have their respective anti-establishment elements as well. For policy results, we see this shift in far-right nationalism manifest in stringent immigration and asylum laws, specifically in France and Austria, as well as Britain leaving the EU in 2016. For the US, the border wall, repealing DACA, the travel ban, and pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership are all examples of Trump carrying out a far-right nationalist agenda. Through this comparison, I conclude that there is a global trend shifting away from a globalist, neoliberal world to a more protectionist, nationalist world. This trend will have impacts on the movement of people and goods across the globe. 1 DeBellis: Elections, Rhetoric, and Policy Published by University of Minnesota Morris Digital Well, 2018