Pat Buchanans Are Springing Up All Over the World

Patrick J. Buchanan just won’t go away. He has vowed to transform his failed bid for the presidency into a campaign for the heart and soul of the nation via a Republican Party that cannot or will not reject him. But as frightening a spectacle as the Buchananization of U.S. politics might be, it is a relatively benign sideshow on a global political stage fraught with ethnic, religious and economic divisions. Buchanan-style populist leaders are enjoying a surge of support and legitimacy worldwide, with implications for global peace and stability.

In Russia and India, the emergence of Buchanan-style nationalism is an especially ominous development. In Russia, Communist Party leader Gennady A. Zyuganov, who is every bit as ultranationalist as Vladimir V. Zhirinovsky, is seriously challenging President Boris N. Yeltsin’s reelection bid. In India, where 590 million people will vote sometime between April 27 and May 21, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has emerged as the first political force in decades with the potential to unseat the Congress Party, which has ruled India for most of its 49-year independent history. It has already won many important state and municipal elections, including some in the state of Maharashtra, where it has allied itself with the radical Hindu extremist party Shiv Sena. Bal Thackeray, the leader of Shiv Sena, has openly admired Adolf Hitler and called for the expulsion of all “foreigners” from the country, including Muslims whose ancestors have lived in India for centuries.

These and other right-wing populists have already altered the terms of political debate in their respective countries. In Russia, Yeltsin has been forced to concede the possibility of considering, after the June elections, a reconstitution of at least part of the old Soviet Union. In India, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s protectionist economic platform has compelled the Congress Party government to freeze economic reforms that have attracted record foreign investment. Hindu nationalists have targeted U.S.-based multinationals, such as Pepsico and its Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants, as examples of foreign infiltration and exploitation.

Russian and Indian nationalists alike insist upon the essential sovereign right to develop and, if necessary, deploy nuclear-weapons systems against perceived national enemies. As in the United States, this sort of sabre-rattling and tough-sounding talk is guaranteed to win over a certain amount of support from an anxious and insecure electorate.

Worldwide, populations are reeling from adjustments to a global economic order that is driving down wages and aggressively pitching a Western-style consumer culture to new markets. These twin forces threaten the power of nations to protect the vital interests of their working men and women and dilute the resiliency of traditional values in the face of new lifestyles. This is why campaign themes of xenophobia and trade protectionism are getting high levels of support around the world.

The advent of free-market capitalism in an unprepared Russia resulted not in prosperity and social harmony but in misery and chaos. The rapid penetration of corruption and gangsterism into Russian life has left ordinary people struggling to survive while a relatively small number of entrepreneurial individuals have enriched themselves beyond any legitimate means. Many workers in inefficient, formerly state-run factories have simply become irrelevant. No wonder Russian candidates are wooing voters with the same protectionist and xenophobia rhetoric that worked for Buchanan: Russia for the Russians; no more free market; let’s return to the safe, protected good old days.

Similar trends are evident in Western Europe: France has Jean-Marie Le Pen and his far-right National Front. In Austria, right-winger Joerg Haider and his Freedom Party did well in elections there last December.

Of course, each country is different. But sizable segments of the electorate in some of the world’s most important democracies clearly believe that the social contract has been seriously compromised: In exchange for an honest day’s work, people are afraid they will never see an honest wage. The gap between the haves and the have-nots relentlessly widens. The people give politicians their vote, yet, election after election, the state fails to guarantee basic services or offer basic protections. Where political corruption or ineptitude appears widespread, the state itself is perceived as a criminal entity, hostage to “special interests,” an enemy rather than an ally.

Ordinary people’s fear of disempowerment, insecurity and impending chaos cannot be assuaged as long as living standards continue to fall, crime continues to rise and environmental quality declines. While international trade agreements have established regional and global mechanisms to facilitate trade, they have undermined the ability of national and local laws and standards to protect working people from exploitation or, worse, irrelevancy as the globe economy evolves.

There is a growing possibility that people whose political systems give them a vote will use that vote to opt out of democracy if they think that will give them protection. Even where national extremists don’t win, elected governments of every stripe will feel enormous pressure to appease parties that can successfully exploit the electorate’s fears and insecurities. In an intricately connected world, the worldwide popularity of xenophobic nationalism should serve as an urgent wake-up call to the international community.