Tracing the impact of contemporary Western 'political scene' on the ascendancy of right-wing populism and the reverse of democracy in the Global South


Nazmul Arefin, University of Alberta

Globalization and liberal ideologies have long created a strong and unbreakable bond of interconnectedness and interdependence among the worlds economies, cultures, and politics. However, modern liberal democracies promise equal respect and identity to everyone but could largely supply that. On the cusp of the 21st century, neo-liberal discontents, deadly pandemics, and crumbling global leadership seem to be fragmenting and polarizing the world, threatening its controllability. Today, the upsurge of anti-immigrant movements, xenophobic hate crimes, electoral extremism, and unimaginable political events in the Western hemisphere are all indicative of that common admonition-- identities are increasingly narrowing down, and yet, the need for identity and recognition is what configures contemporary world politics. This ubiquity of this identity politics has given rise to populist nationalism that has begun to undermine democracy, bringing about increasingly pervasive populist regimes even in long-established democracies. The ethno-nationalist politicians, utilizing the leverage of "populist desire," built sovereign authority, or, we could say, an unprecedented type of "elected autocracy," in different parts of the globe, including the Global South. Populist media, fake news, rumours, fantasy propaganda, and outright denial of facts are inexorably assimilating into democratic norms and modes of governance, thereby becoming "neo-democratic hermeneutics." Slavoj Žižek adds to the list of predicaments that the "disintegration of the central left" is also the darkest symptom of the post-Trump era. Being dumbfounded, we are witnessing the return of the "archaic and irrational forces" in the polity. Thus, it would not be an exaggeration if we speculate that all the meta-political-futurology has been strongly challenged by this crucial transformation of the Western political climate. It is equally fascinating to note that since the 2010s, we have witnessed a significant political shift in countries such as India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Brazil, Chile, and many other countries where "sovereign power" is unprecedentedly exercised by the elected governments rather than by generals or left radicals. In that context, this paper discusses the current 'post-conventional' trends of right-wing populism and ethno-nationalist politics around the globe and how they are heralding the decline of liberal democracy. In addition, using the case of India and Bangladesh, this paper sets an argument about how the political landscapes of the Western giants have strong contemporary resonance to this uncanny rise of right-wing populism and the reverse of democracy in the global south. In the book "Populism and the Mirror of Democracy" (2005), Chantal Mouffe argues that right-wing populism is the "consequence of the post-political consensus." This paper builds upon this thesis by examining the observed performativity of the consensus between the Global North and the Global South. It highlights the importance of doing research and developing new theories to pin down the role of the Global North-South nexus in expanding the trend of de-democratization and altering liberal democracys tenets with populist signifiers, especially in this challenging historical period. Finally, this paper indicates how the de facto return of the West to "oligarchic conception" announced the eclipse of Western democratic leadership around the world, particularly in the Global South.

This paper will be presented at the following session: