Philosopher John Locke tellingly argued that “things of this world are in so constant a flux, that nothing remains long in the same state”. Seemingly localised events such as the French Revolution, the two world wars, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the September 11 attacks and Lehman Brothers’ crash all kickstarted profound global disruptions. The 2008 financial crisis unleashed socio-economic pressures that heralded a tsunami of populist-autocrats leading right-wing parties (henceforth the Right). As evidenced by contemporary global upheavals (the conflict in West Asia being just the tip of the iceberg), this tsunami is the single biggest threat to the liberal world order.

Most analyses focus on the ‘what’ of this phenomenon, namely that the Right is fashioning a neo-conservative world order — where nations have spheres-of-influence and might is right; are culturally pure (code for xenophobia and racism); and where the liberal world order’s norms are vilified as impediments to a mythical golden period. Other analyses outline the similarities in the Right’s domestic politics or how it embeds undemocratic and atavistic norms in the new world order they are forging. What is understudied is how the Right breathes life into its shared goals and why it acts like it does.