{"id":38038,"date":"2018-03-22T10:00:14","date_gmt":"2018-03-21T23:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=38038"},"modified":"2018-03-22T10:00:14","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T23:00:14","slug":"bannon-in-lille","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/bannon-in-lille\/","title":{"rendered":"Bannon in Lille"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

In 1965, Henry Kissinger wrote a book called The troubled partnership<\/a><\/em>, in which he examined the tensions affecting the transatlantic alliance during the Cold War. A stable international order, he argued, demanded the leadership of the United States\u2014a powerful model for democracy in the world\u2014supported by strong ties with Europe. Kissinger probably never would have imagined that, less than six decades later, the US would be playing precisely the opposite role, as a new, darker version of the transatlantic alliance emerges.<\/p>\n

Consider last week\u2019s convention of France\u2019s far-right National Front. Upon being re-elected leader of the party, Marine Le\u00a0Pen announced that it was to be renamed Rassemblement National<\/em> (National Rally). The guest of honour at this consequential event was none other than Donald Trump\u2019s former chief strategist, Stephen Bannon.<\/p>\n

\u2018All great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice,\u2019 Karl Marx famously wrote<\/a>, \u2018the first time as tragedy, second as farce.\u2019 It would be easy to place the convention in Lille in the \u2018farce\u2019 category. After all, Le\u00a0Pen and Bannon are both political rejects.<\/p>\n

Le\u00a0Pen lost last year\u2019s French presidential election to Emmanuel Macron in a landslide. Moreover, she is now being challenged within her own party by her much younger and more intellectually impressive niece, Marion Mar\u00e9chal\u2011Le\u00a0Pen, who spoke just ahead of US Vice President Mike Pence at February\u2019s Conservative Political Action Committee gathering in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n

As for Bannon, he was fired unceremoniously by Trump in August 2017. To add insult to injury, Trump released a statement declaring that Bannon \u2018had very little to do\u2019 with Trump\u2019s victory in the presidential election, and had lost not just his job, but also \u2018his mind\u2019 when fired.<\/p>\n

Bannon\u2019s presence at the Lille event was paradoxical. After all, his firing was rooted partly in his extremism, while Le\u00a0Pen is currently attempting to widen her party\u2019s support by softening its image. Yet, in another sense, his participation made perfect sense, as it reflected the ongoing development of a transatlantic populist alliance, a bleak variation on the \u2018geography of values\u2019 upon which the Cold War alliance was based.<\/p>\n

Despite Bannon\u2019s own political setbacks, he maintains that the \u2018tide of history\u2019 is irresistibly moving toward the populists. From his perspective, with Trump having secured the US presidency\u2014a development that has destabilised the world order that Bannon and his ilk so badly want to burn down\u2014it is only a matter of time before Europe follows in America\u2019s footsteps.<\/p>\n

It would be dangerous to dismiss Bannon\u2019s vision as mere bluster. Macron may have won the day in France, but Trump\u2019s electoral victory was no accident. Nor was the strong showing by populist parties in this month\u2019s election in Italy, where the anti-immigration League party and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement together secured some 50% of the vote.<\/p>\n

Even Germany has, to some extent, fallen victim to populist forces. To be sure, a new grand coalition government\u2014comprising Chancellor Angela Merkel\u2019s Christian Democratic Union, its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, and the Social Democratic Party\u2014has been formed. But it took more than five months for the parties to agree, and the largest opposition party is now the far-right Alternative for Germany. In a country that seemed to have been vaccinated against populism by its Nazi history, this is a particularly distressing development. Democracy is more fragile than it may seem, and it can never be taken for granted.<\/p>\n

So how can we stem the populist tide? For starters, political elites on both sides of the Atlantic who still believe in liberal democracy must recognise that it is they who are responsible for populism\u2019s rise, owing to their failure to respond adequately to the concerns of the electorate. They must work tirelessly to find real solutions to the problems, from inequality to migration, that have fuelled support for populist forces. Those solutions must address not only technical challenges, but also citizens\u2019 feelings\u2014skilfully tapped by populists\u2014of disenfranchisement and loss of identity.<\/p>\n

Of course, US Democrats must also find a compelling candidate to run against Trump in the 2020 presidential election. And France and Germany must push forward with further European integration. Here, France has a special responsibility, under Macron\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n

And, make no mistake: contrary to what Bannon said in Lille, it is Macron\u2014not Le\u00a0Pen and her rebranded party\u2014who holds the key to the future of democracy in France. If he fails to make the system work for more of the electorate, France could well go the way of the US, setting a dangerous precedent for the rest of Europe. In such a scenario, the transatlantic alliance really would be in deep trouble\u2014and so would the world order that it underpins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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