Neo-Fascism’s Shadow Looms: Europe’s Right-Wing Resurgence and the Erosion of Liberal Democracy

By: A. Mahdavi

The predictable yet alarming victory of Germany’s right-wing party marks a perilous inflection point for Europe and the international liberal order. Framed as a revolt against “globalist socialism,” this shift—echoing Trumpian nationalism—threatens to destabilize decades of multilateral cooperation, exposing the contradictions and dangers of resurgent right-wing ideologies. 

Germany, long hailed as a bastion of European liberalism, now risks mirroring the populist upheavals that have corroded democracies elsewhere. The right’s ascendancy, fueled by voter frustration over perceived EU overreach and a fetishization of national sovereignty, has been gleefully endorsed by Donald Trump, whose “America First” dogma aligns superficially with the German right’s rhetoric. Yet this alliance is a marriage of convenience, not conviction. While Trump celebrates the victory as validation of his transactional, deregulatory agenda, Germany’s right-wing faction clings to a façade of moderation, touting social welfare and institutional stability—principles antithetical to Trump’s slash-and-burn capitalism. 

The ideological dissonance is stark. Germany’s right champions a social market economy with robust worker protections; Trump’s legacy hinges on corporate tax cuts and regulatory rollbacks. This schism will strain transatlantic trade relations, particularly on issues like climate policy and tariffs, where German pragmatism collides with American short-termism. Similarly, the right’s push for “independent” defense policies—a thinly veiled critique of NATO dependency—could fracture European security architectures, forcing Germany to balance hollow promises of autonomy against the reality of a fragmented West. 

Worse, the right’s nationalist posturing masks a dangerous hypocrisy. Their demand for “German values” and sovereignty rings hollow amid their tacit alignment with Trump’s authoritarian leanings and disdain for democratic norms. European leaders rightly fear this convergence: Trump’s erratic statesmanship, combined with Germany’s inward turn, jeopardizes collective action on crises from Ukraine to climate change. 

Ultimately, the right’s victory is less a mandate than a mirage. Their pledge to “save Germany” through nationalist revival ignores the interconnectedness of modern governance. As transatlantic ties fray and Germany retreats into mythologized sovereignty, the world edges closer to a fractured order—one where right-wing populism substitutes delusion for diplomacy, leaving global challenges unaddressed and democracies diminished. The right’s triumph is not a rebirth, but a retreat—a surrender to fear over foresight, division over unity, and myth over reality.