The rise of post-crash populism has been far more significant to the political right than the left. The vast majority of left populist movements that arose after the 2008 financial crisis have now petered out. Sanders failed, Corbyn failed, while Podemos in Spain and SYRIZA in Greece seem spent forces. Many of Europe’s old, centre-left parties continue to haemorrhage support. Only the political right has gained electoral mileage from the aftermath of the global financial crisis, which reinforces the point that where the left still exists in an organised form it has grown accustomed to electoral failure and has lost touch with the very communities its parties and key institutions were initially formed to protect.

The right has shifted and evolved a great deal in a relatively short period of time. Numerous right-wing populist movements that arose after the global financial crisis continue to exert considerable influence. While the appearance of new and renewed forms of nationalism and racism are part of this picture, they are not the sole causes of the right’s success. The right has fared particularly well by doing what the liberalised left refuses to do. While left-liberal commentators tediously repeat the Rawlsian plea to ignore the material realm and remain true to liberal ideals, the right has adapted its approach by closely observing shifting economic trends and learning from the strategies of its opponents.

Some elements of the new right have adopted the language of the counterculture and depict the left as an authoritarian establishment set to deprive the people of their freedoms. They present their own ideas as edgy and subversive and pour scorn on the edicts of the stuffy, sanctimonious and censorious leftist establishment. Again, up is down, left is right.

The new right is not yet achieving electoral success, but it has succeeded in two important ways: first, it has swayed many swing voters over to established right-wing parties; and, second, it has injected new life into the elements of cultural conservatism that, despite more than 40 years of global neoliberalism, linger throughout civil society.