Is the West turning Conservative?

  12 minutes    By Thomas Rademaker, English

In this episode, podcast producers Amber and Boris interviewed Prof. Dr. Annelien de Dijn on a relevant topic. It is likely that you heard of the result of the past elections in the Netherlands. It was a blowout victory for the right wing nationalist party, as Geert Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom, scored 37 seats in the Dutch House of Representatives. There seems to be a trend going on in Europe, since Meloni in Italy, Le Pen in France and the AFD in Germany are high in the polls in their respective countries. Should we be talking about a worldwide rise of the right wing?

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Annelien de Dijn is a professor in Modern Political History and mostly writes on Political Thought from an historical perspective, while most of her research focuses on Europe and the United States from 1700 to the present. Amongst her most acclaimed publications is her latest book Freedom: An Unruly History, which was awarded with the 2021 PROSE Prize in Philosophy by the American Association of Publishers. In this book De Dijn discusses the perception of freedom from Ancient Greece until the 21st century. Besides Freedom, De Dijn has extensively written about subjects like democracy, liberalism and religion.

This article highlights and compiles the podcast interview with Prof. Dr. Annelien de Dijn, now available on Spotify.

Conservative politicians have taken centre stage in the news coverage, not in the least after the results of the last Dutch election. However, we feel that terms such as conservatism, populism, radical right and sometimes even fascism are used interchangeably. Do you see any similarities between these concepts and ideologies, or are they wrongfully confused?

“As with everything, it is important to place the popular vote in its context: since around the year 2000 a new ‘party-family’ is on the rise in Europe, that has won success during elections. They can indeed be described differently, with some experts opting for populism, while others prefer the term radical right. The parties themselves often choose the term conservatism to refer to themselves. I myself see those parties as nationalist first and foremost; They are parties that attach great importance to the nation and to national sovereignty […] and who support a very specific type of nationalism, that I like to call ‘paranoid nationalism’, so they want to protect the nation against a variety of enemies. But why paranoid? Because these enemies are mostly imagined.”

Columnist Rob Wijnberg published a video-essay in de Correspondent after PVV’s [‘Partij voor de Vrijheid’; right wing nationalist party] victory in november 2023. He explained his view that the Netherlands voted for a fictitious past that no longer exists: one without problems caused by globalisation, such as the refugee crisis, the overbearing European Union, growing diversity and climate change. He calls the politicians who hold these positions “nostalgic nationalists”, and shows their effectiveness by listing their victories: “74 million American votes for a pathological liar, 17 million British votes for an exit from the European Union, 14 million Argentinian votes for a far-right climate change denier.”¹ Annelien de Dijn agrees with Wijnberg, but finds the term “paranoid nationalists” more fitting: “I mean, nostalgic. That sounds like they all lie in hammocks wistfully longing for the 50s. But you can see that these parties are a bit more active, can’t you? They really flourish on the basis of seeing enemies all around. That is a very clear characteristic: being Dutch. Wilders wants to give the Netherlands back to the Dutch people, which suggests that it currently is not under Dutch authority. The ‘others’ that have occupied the Netherlands according to Geert Wilders [leader of the right wing nationalist party PVV] are supranational organisations such as the EU and NATO, but also marginalised groups such as refugees and immigrants, specifically religious Muslims. This second category has given Wilders significant backlash, most notoriously following his “More or less Morrocans”-speech in 2014, which was the reason for the Public Prosecutor’s Office (OM) to persecute the party leader.² Due to the controversy surrounding his anti-Islam statements, he significantly moderated his party’s views, something that seems to have paid off in the recent popular vote. In addition, Geert Wilders has argued in favour of a “Nexit”, which would result in the Netherlands leaving the European Union, following Britain’s example in an effort to regain national sovereignty.

These paranoid nationalist parties often use the term “freedom”, such as the PVV, literally translating to Party for Freedom. What do they mean by this?

“You see that these parties often mention freedom, but now you see that they usually mean something very specific. And I think this tendency over the last couple of years has been discussed more often, which is to say, they are primarily talking about the national freedom that is threatened by supranational organisations like the EU. During the time when [Frans] Timmermans was responsible for the European climate policy he was constantly dismissed as ‘the climate pope’. 

Frans Timmermans has been a member of the Dutch Chamber of Representatives for the PvdA (Labour Party) since 1998. Between 2012 and 2014 he worked as the Foreign Minister. Thereafter he moved to the European Commission, where from 2019 he became EU Commisioner for Climate Action and was responsible for the so-called Green Deal. For the Dutch elections of November 2023 he was proclaimed party leader for the fusion between ‘his’ Labour and the GreenLeft party.

The association then of course is that of some kind of dictator who from Brussels dictates what we in the Netherlands all have to do and especially are not allowed to do. So, that idea of freedom is certainly a very important thought, although if you start looking, it often is  about individual rights and freedoms, but lately it has been mainly about that national freedom, which fits well into the nationalist discourse.”

When looking at the conservative movement now, their opinions seem to run counter to the “original” conservatism that arose in the 19th century. How has this changed over the years?

When looking back at the history of conservatism, it was very different to the positions held by conservative parties such as the PVV. In the early 19th century, people such as Rene de Chateaubriand were the first to refer to themselves as “conservative”. This French politician was against democracy and at this time his views were shared by many. Another early conservative was the English Whig Edmund Burke, who firmly spoke out against the French Revolution.

De Dijn explains: “Originally, these politicians had a very negative view of humanity: people were weak, sinful beings. There was a certain Christian idea behind this. And as such, they were not able to make their own decisions and most definitely not capable enough to help govern.” 

Burke was horrified by the treatment of traditional institutions such as the monarchy and the church in France, and wrote the bestselling pamphlet Reflections of the Revolution in France (1790)³. This solidified his identity as one of the founders of conservatism. Conservatists historically believed a monarch or nobility would be better able to rule, thus they used to be part of the antidemocratic movement. “This is also a reason […] why I think it is better to call those groups today ‘nationalist’, as I believe that is the main part of their ideology. Politicians from conservative parties such as Vlaams Belang or Forum voor Democratie also take part in the National Conservative Conference, with Giorgia Meloni, Victor Orban and Tucker Carlson also making appearances. This shows they all portray themselves as upholders of traditional Christian values, and while for example Fratelli d’Italia and the Hungarian Fidesz do, Wilders does not feature this as a main point. What really unites these parties as one family is their nationalism. A good example of Wilders’ apparent progressive views is his partial pro-LGBTQ+ policy. To directly oppose Muslim Sharia laws, he has portrayed himself as a champion for the rights of the gay community and women. This has got him to speak at a pro-Donald Trump rally organised by gay republicans in the lead-up to the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election.⁴ In this way he differs from other conservative politicians in Europe, such as Meloni and Orban who are outspokenly anti-LGBTQ, by appealing to the Dutch historical sense of tolerance, and positioning himself against the ‘intolerant Muslims’.

Certain points of the PVV’s plan go directly against the Dutch constitution. An example of this has been discussed often in the media: “The Netherlands is not an Islamic country: no Islamic schools, Qurans or mosques.” You often give lectures about, for example, Rousseau, whose ideas seem very relevant today. How do you see the relevance of Rousseau’s General Will in modern-day society?

“So I have characterised this party as nationalist, right? But you can very well be nationalist and still a good democrat. You could even argue that you need nationalism for a well-functioning democracy, because what is nationalism in the end? It’s an ideology that says: ‘we aren’t just 17 million people living next to each other. No! We are one community, and so we help each other.’ Without nationalism, without a sense of community, you won’t have a well-functioning democracy. […] The problem with this party once again is that they aren’t just nationalist, but paranoid nationalist, so that they see imagined enemies everywhere. That of course is threatening to democracy, in two different ways: Firstly, because the groups they deem not to be part of the ethnic ‘Dutch’ community, those minorities, they will not be treated in a democratic way. Wilders thinks we should get rid of Article 1 [of the Constitution], so that you can discriminate freely.”

“We are going to make sure that the Dutchman comes first again”

– Geert Wilders’ speech after his victory in the elections

Image at top: Geert Wilders on a campaign in Prague for the European Parliamentary election in 2019. Source: Wikipedia.