Opinion Express View | Meloni’s Right: Why liberals need to listen, not melt down

The institutions and values firmed up in Europe and the US — the West — in the last decade of the 20th century are facing a crucial moment of reckoning. Western liberalism and the much-touted “rules-based order” championed by Washington and Brussels arguably reached their pinnacle after the G7 was expanded to include Russia in 1998. The “end of history” moment, though, now seems a thing of the past. The economic vision articulated as the “Washington Consensus” — with a focus on free markets, trade liberalisation, fiscal discipline — began eroding with the 2008 financial crisis and the rise of China. It is now being challenged by Donald Trump in the very place of its origin. It can be said to be framed by recent political events — the election results in Germany, and the speeches by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the Conservative Political Action Conference in the US and by US V-P J D Vance at the Munich Security Conference. Rather than ignore — or denigrate — the political-ideological frameworks that are being writ large on the global landscape, liberal politics needs to understand and engage with them.

Even as he “bore full responsibility” for the poor showing of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), German Chancellor Olaf Scholz rejected the possibility of even speaking to the AfD: Germany’s far-right outfit — riding on an anti-immigrant campaign — is now the second-largest party in the legislature. The upward climb of the AfD is of a piece with the rise and rise of many other parties once thought to be on the fringe. The question, though, is why. Conservative leaders like Meloni have an explanation — it would not do to merely dismiss it as self-serving. While liberal leaders like Bill Clinton and Tony Blair were hailed as statesmen when they worked together, she says, “when Trump, Meloni, … Modi talk, they are called a threat to democracy. This is the Left’s double standard… but we are used to it, and the good news is people no longer believe in their lies, despite all the mud they throw at us. Citizens keep voting for us”. Vance, for his part, has pointed to issues that have defined the culture wars in the US — free speech vs hate speech, abortion, prayer in public spaces — and urged Europe to look at the hypocrisies and inconsistencies within.

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There are now ascendant political parties across Europe and beyond that will echo Meloni and Vance. The despondency shown by Scholz, and the “basket of deplorables” view of those who voted for the right, however, is myopic and self-defeating. It is important to acknowledge that a once-formidable consensus is under siege and that there are several complicities in its apparent breakdown. It is vital to recognise that the challenger also contains multitudes, there is no singular right-wing. Abortion and gun control might be divisive issues in the US, for instance, but they are not a major feature of the political conversation on the right in India. The crisis for liberal politics is also born of its own lack of agility and imagination. Any way out of it must begin with fresh ideas, a much-needed rethink.