The Robot Vote Has Brought Success for Nationalists

The crisis of inclusive liberalism and the surge of right-wing parties in Europe date back to the 1990s, when the economic change drove the realignment of social groups along new dividing lines. This is the central thesis of Italo Colantone's and Piero Stanig's article Alle radici del nazionalismo that was featured in the January-March 2019 issue of Economia & Management, the magazine of SDA Bocconi School of Management.

The shocks of globalization and automation played a key role in the rise of radical-right parties in Western Europe. "These changes generated aggregate gains, but penalized medium-skilled and less-educated workers", professor Colantone says. "The losers of globalization were not adequately compensated. Governments became increasingly ineffective at delivering redistributive policies also due to the liberalization of capital flows that reduced state revenues. The losers of globalization no longer felt represented by traditional mainstream parties and turned to the anti-globalization camp. This is a phenomenon triggered by socio-economic issues that also drove cultural concerns".

As a result, the economic nationalist political platform, namely a mix of isolationism, nationalist narrative and economic conservatism, has emerged. The future, however, is not written. "The promises of economic nationalists are clashing with reality, and maybe mainstream parties will be able to restructure and become credible again by effectively addressing the inequalities generated by economic shocks".

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