Capitalist Development and the Rise and ‘Fall’ of the Far-Right

Abstract

This article offers an alternative account of the European far-right from those prevailing in comparative politics and the history of ideas literatures. The article focuses on: (i) the historical evolution of the European far-right from its late 19th-century origins to its contemporary form as a current of anti-globalization; and (ii) the way in which international capitalist development explains the generalized emergence and ‘success’ of the far-right. I argue that uneven capitalist development has been integral to the evolution of the far-right. It has been the geopolitical expressions of capitalist development that best account for enabling domestic political contexts that have facilitated far-right mobilizations. Consequently, whilst the far-right has re-emerged, because of the post-1945 decoupling of uneven capitalist development from geopolitical rivalry, the international and domestic social, political and ideological resources that the contemporary far-right can draw upon are considerably weaker than the historical far-right.