by Seph Fischer ‘25

In his 1992 book The End of History and the Last Man, Francis Fukuyama famously argued that the world was embarking on the final form of government in the form of liberal democracy. However, the rise of nationalist political parties throughout the West in recent years has put this conclusion into question.

Across Europe and the Americas, these movements have lamented a perceived decline in quality of life, mass immigration policies, rising cost of living, and declining birth rates as the result of an establishment disconnected from the people they are supposed to serve. They’ve focused their energies into political parties which have seen massive success recently. The preeminent figure in this trend is, of course, Donald Trump and the MAGA movement he’s spearheaded in the United States. However, disparate nationalist movements have achieved similar levels of success in other countries, marking the revitalization of nationalism as a defining political trend of the past decade.

Though often expressed in different forms depending on the nation they emerge from, nationalist movements in Europe almost universally share certain characteristics. Skepticism of the European Union, strong opposition to mass immigration, and populist rhetoric have caused these parties to rapidly rise to prominence. Perhaps the most moderate of these parties is Reform, which skyrocketed into the news in July of 2024, when it won the third-highest vote share in the United Kingdom’s general election with a platform of mild skepticism of both immigration and left-wing economic policy. France, meanwhile, held an election in which the nationalist National Rally party led at 33 percent of the vote in the first round of elections, causing some to expect the party to outright win. However, more established parties strategically withdrew from certain races to ensure the party did not realize its gains. Similarly, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has become the de facto opposition to the ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party in Germany, but has faced a number of challenges, with discussions of federally banning the party making it uncertain that it will be able to compete in the 2025 German federal elections.

Some parties within this broader movement have already won power, giving a clearer picture of what other parties might do when in power. In South America, the right-wing libertarian Liberty Advances party scored a massive victory in 2023, when it swept Argentina’s general election and elected firebrand populist Javier Milei as the country’s president. At a time of massive economic and political strife within the country, Milei and Liberty Advances campaigned on a radical upheaval of the current order, involving a short period of worse turmoil in order to achieve long term stability. After a short period of increased economic strife, inflation has dropped, and the government achieved a budget surplus for the first time in 14 years. Critics point to a sharp increase in poverty as signs that Milei’s reforms may not be as successful as they seem. Despite this, Milei maintains a relatively high 48-percent approval rating.

Elements of this movement are not only expressed in right-wing movements. Parties like the left-wing Social Democrats in Denmark have adopted restrictionist immigration policies and remained highly popular. Prominent challenges remain for these movements despite successes, though. Romanian election results were completely invalidated by courts in late 2024 when eclectic populist and conspiracy theorist Călin Georgescu won with a plurality of the vote. The courts argued that Georgescu had colluded with the Russian government in his campaign, though these claims are disputed. Some described the court’s decision as a breach of the democratic process, while some asserted its necessity to preserve the integrity of Romanian elections.

There has been a definite shift in public sentiment towards the nationalist right globally. With Trump’s position at the forefront of this movement, it’s certain that how the MAGA movement now governs — and whether Americans generally respond positively or negatively — will influence this broader international movement going forward.