In some ways, this is Europe’s Tea Party moment — a grass-roots insurgency fired by resentment against a political class that many Europeans see as out of touch. The main difference, however, is that Europe’s populists want to strengthen, not shrink, government and see the welfare state as an integral part of their national identities. The trend in Europe does not signal the return of fascist demons from the 1930s, except in Greece where the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn has promoted openly racist beliefs, and also perhaps in Hungary, where the far-right Jobbik party backs a brand of ethnic nationalism suffused with anti-Semitism.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 13:00:37 +0000