Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author(s) and do not reflect the official position or policy of ADV or the International Association for Political Science Students (IAPSS).
World Leaders of a ‘worried’ Center-Left gathered at the Global Progress Action Summit in London on September 25 (Castle & Landler, 2025) to discuss ways to fight back populist rights. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s statement advocated an absolute choice between ‘a politics of predatory grievance’ and ‘patriotic renewal’ (Castle & Landler, 2025). However, Sir Starmer’s appeal for a ‘patriotic’ renewal risks emboldening a divisive narrative on ‘patriotism’s’ inherent tenets on varied sides of the evolving political discourse.
The Summit, weeks after far right and anti-far right demonstrations in the United Kingdom (Landler, 2025) and Netherlands took place (Stroobants, 2025; NL Times, 2025), was focused on a range of issues including immigration, regulation of artificial intelligence and election strategies (Castle & Landler, 2025). The summit was organized by a collection of left-leaning groups like the Center for American Progress (which has ties to past Democratic administrations), Institute for Public Policy Research, Labour Together, and few other British think tanks associated with the Labour Party (Castle and Landler, 2025).
Political and social figures like Mark Carney, Neera Tanden, Kristrun Frostadottir, Fred Hochberg, Keir Starmer, Pete Buttigieg, Pedro Sánchez, Anthony Albanese, and Jacinda Ardern were present at the summit to shape the dialogue on the narrative of Centre-Left’s version of ‘progressive’ politics (Castle & Landler, 2025). In last few weeks the far- right and liberal ideological debate has proactively heightened following Charlie Kirk’s death, an American right-wing activist, entrepreneur, and media personality.
Over the years swing voters, economy, LGBTQ rights, and debates on immigration have been at the center of left and right-wing politics. A report in The New York Times called the Democratic Party ‘limping in the political wilderness’ in its inability to counter President Trump (Castle & Landler, 2025). In the absence of a strong liberal movement ecosystem, liberal political figures have appealed to their activist counterparts to keep faith with voters on economic and immigration policies to effectively marginalise the political far right (Mc Ilroy, 2025).
The ascending ideological battle has elicited radical views across the spectrum deepening the left-right rhetorical debate. The contest took a new direction with big tech joining in the narrative war. The liberal discourse believes ( Mitnick, 2024) goals of the tech right are at odds with the global push to address the risks of technology or is less invested in the idea of global security and prosperity. Further, the liberal discourse believes tech-right is contributing to the erosion of ‘real accountability’ and ‘fairness’ by ‘manufacturing’ a conservative internet.
Trump’s recent reiteration of unchecked migration at the United Nations General Assembly that according to him is turning European countries into ‘hell’ is an extension of far-right immigration protests that seeks to restrict or ban legal and illegal immigration. However, critics argue that such political positions are vulnerable to paradoxes ( Ambrosini, 2025) that requires political systems to balance between electoral commitment of rigid closure towards immigrants and refugees, in the presence of interests and pressures that instead require openness.
Centre Left’s attack on the conservatives have so far failed to move beyond politics of language tactics. Further, the dimming approval ratings of its frontline figures in the center left have earned the movement less legitimacy compared to far-right discourse. Starmer’s attempt to power up liberal movement needs him to build fiscal trust to profile the strength of the labor government as popular and people friendly. Sir Keir stepped up to power in July 2024 promising to “stop the chaos” and begin a “decade of national renewal” after the years of tumult that followed the Brexit referendum of 2016.
In recent years even Europe has witnessed the increasing involvement of representatives of far-right parties in decision making. For several years now, far-right parties (Becker, Flach & Ondarza, 2025) have been significantly gaining ground in many EU member states. In the 2024 European elections, support for these forces increased in 22 of the 27 EU countries (Becker, Flach & Ondarza, 2025). If independent members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are excluded, far-right parties now hold almost 26% of the seats in the European Parliament (EP). However, the rise of the far right is not yet demonstrative of a coherent political movement and is fragmented at the institutional level (Becker, Flach & Ondarza, 2025).
There has been research about the inter-relation between internationalization of economy (Rettl, 2024) and political system’s shift towards liberal and right political discourses. For example, there is evidence that increased competition from Chinese imports contributed to the rise of far-right parties in Western Europe. In Brazil, decreased international demand for Brazilian exports contributed to the election of Jair Bolsonaro in 2018. While in these cases globalization led to the rise of the far right, there are examples of globalization leading to the rise of liberal parties as well. For example, the rise of the Labor Party in the UK was in simultaneity with the rise of trade competition in Germany. However no single political or economic rationale can justify or correctly offer a template explaining the link between economic globalization and domestic voting patterns at any given time.
In recent years migration of figures like Tulsi Gabbard, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and the German politician Sahra Wagenknecht across the political spectrum goes far beyond the red-brown mixture narrative (Müller,2024) resonating horse shoe theory of political extremism. The most plausible logical explanation is that established voices might turn to a platform that lets them vent out political discontent about singular, overriding issues, or issues of urgency. Since there is no proven or declared titular winner of the ever-evolving rhetoric of grievances, ideological battles continue to preside over political discourses.
References
Ambrosini, M. (2025, March 28). The populist far right paradox: the identification of the enemy and its exceptions in the immigration policies of the Meloni government in Italy. Comparative Migration Studies(Online), 13(17), https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-025-00438-y.
Becker,M & Flach, J.& Ondarza,N.V (2025, September 9), Where Far-right Parties Are Integrated into the EU System and Where They Are Not. Stiftung Eissenschaft und Politik(Online). https://www.swp-berlin.org/publikation/the-creeping-integration-of-far-right-parties-in-europe
Castle, S. & Landler, M. (2025, September 26). World Leaders of a Worried Center-Left Gather to Discuss Ways to Fight Back. The New York Times (Online). https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/world/europe/progressives-ippr-summit-london-starmer.html
Landler, M. (2025, September 13). Far-Right Rally in London Draws Huge Crowd and a Counterprotest.The New York Times(Online). https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/13/world/europe/london-far-right-rally-robinson.html
McIlroy, T. (2025, September 27). Progressive governments must keep faith with voters to combat the far right, Albanese and Starmer warn. The Guardian (Online). https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/sep/26/labor-very-focused-on-making-sure-voters-keep-faith-in-system-says-albanese
Mitnick, D. (2024, October 7). The Tech Right: Silicon Valley’s Ascendant Illiberalism. Green European Journal (Online). https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/silicon-valley-ascendant-illiberalism/
Müller, J-W. (2024, November 5). From Left to Right and Beyond: The Strange Migration of Political Mavericks. Social Europe (Online). https://www.socialeurope.eu/from-left-to-right-and-beyond-the-strange-migration-of-political-mavericks
Rettl,P.C.(2024, May 21). What the Rise of Far-Right Politics Says About the Economy in an Election Year. Harvard Business School (Online). https://www.library.hbs.edu/working-knowledge/what-the-rise-of-far-right-politics-says-about-the-economy-in-an-election-year
Stroobants, J.P. ( 2025, September 22). The Hague rocked by far-right protest, ‘an unprecedented outburst of violence’ in the Netherlands. Le Monde(Online). https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/09/22/the-hague-rocked-by-far-right-protest-an-unprecedented-outburst-of-violence-in-the-netherlands_6745631_4.html
(2025, March 22). Thousands rally in Amsterdam’s Dam Square against racism and far-right policies. NL Times (Online). https://nltimes.nl/2025/03/22/thousands-rally-amsterdams-dam-square-racism-far-right-policies
Author’s Bio-Note
Dr. Angana Guha Roy is currently working as an Associate Director at the Asian Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs, Kathmandu.
