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September 30, 2005

Right Is Might, or Right Needs Might?

David Frum writes about how the Right is establishing itself around the world. I suspect that he's probably a “big picture” type of person, which is why I agree with the general jist of the column, that conservative ideas have become entrenched into the consensus of the Anglosphere (although not the European Continent). However, I find the details to be pretty weak.

Frum starts off with the decline of the Right in the 1990s, as Tony Blair is among the leaders of the Third Way going into power (one year later than John Howard's first win in Australia, it should be pointed out). It then goes on to show that the the Third Way is out, as shown by the re-election of... ...Tony Blair. There is no explanation as to why Blair can serve as a sign of Left resurgence and decline, although Frum does refer to him as one of “Bush's most important allies.” Which baffles me as to what Frum thinks of the defeat of the left Polish government in recent parliamentary elections. Now, that government is being replaced by two right-wing parties, but then if Tony Blair was defeated earlier this year by the Howard Tories, would Frum call that a victory or defeat for conservatism? And in any case, losing 47 seats can hardly be considered to be a “smashing re-election” for Blair.

Likewise, citing historical figures that supposedly show the comparative success of conservative parties outside Canada doesn't hold much weight when examined. The LDP in Japan is hardly a conservative party (at least, in the fiscal sense); indeed ,until the recent re-election of Koizumi, it would be inappropriate to label the LDP with any ideology, since the party has existed for the most part for the sake of being elected, principles be damned. The UK's 40/60 record in the past six decades is overshadowed by the fact that their record in the past eight years has been 0/8. And on the 33/60 record for the GOP in the same period, I'd like to point out that Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, and Bush 43 can hardly be considered to be fiscal conservatives (the former three also weren't exactly all that big on social conservatism neither).

So while I agree with Frum that over the past two decades or so, conservatives have successfully moved the playing field in their favour, it's not clear whether they are truly as electorally powerful outside Canada as Frum would like to portray.

In the near future, I'd like to break down exactly what right-wing parties worldwide are doing these days and how successful they are at getting elected and successfully implementing a conservative agenda. Of particular interest is the new sense of insularity (even, in some cases, xenophobia) that has developed in some of the right-wing parties in Europe.

Posted by Kelvin at September 30, 2005 12:13 AM

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