Europe's coming anti-liberal empire

The rudiments of such transpartisan anti-liberal coalitions already exist, with some of them holding political power. Italy is governed by a coalition of a far-right anti-immigrant party (La Lega) and an upstart anti-liberal-populist party (Five Star). In Hungary, Viktor Orbán’s explicitly anti-liberal Fidesz holds a solid majority, but the country’s second most popular party (Jobbik) is even further right. Austria’s chancellor is a member of the conservative People’s Party, but its vice-chancellor is a member of the far-right Freedom Party.

Those countries and some others (Poland, the Czech Republic) are already poised to send large anti-liberal delegations to the European Parliament. But what if the anti-liberal right begins to make common cause with the anti-liberal left against the neoliberal governing class of the EU?

There are ideological and practical political reasons why this is likely to happen — and some signs that it has already begun. This doesn’t make sense to many political analysts and actors whose sensibilities were formed in the crucible of the Cold War and its immediate aftermath, when the distinction between left and right seemed stark and obvious.