Interesting
More and more countries in Europe are tending to the right or even extreme right wing in the political field: Italy and England after recent elections but also France, Belgium (slightly but surely) and others. Interestingly, the newspaper Le Monde is linking this to the fact that people get older and live longer. Older people are more conservative, more suspicious towards progression or indeed change of any kind and more influenceable by eloquent speeches on 'safety'.
I thought this was a valuable analysis. At least it allowed me to have a better insight in political changes in Europe. Though I am not convinced. I won't go into details or into a discussion, because it's not supposed to be my first concern these days (which seem kidnapped from me by thesis work), but it's an interesting point. Isn't it?
PS I suspect that Boris Johnson, new right wing mayor of London, dyes his hair... (or I just can't stand the thought that there is anything nice about him)
Labels: Politics
posted by Jolien @ Tuesday, May 06, 2008
3 comments
3 Comments:
I don't totally agree on that. I notice new conservative tendencies in the younger generations that are currently graduating from high school and going to college (US terminology). They are getting more traditionalistic (marriage - home - children - ...) and less tolerant when facing asocial behaviour, which is positive. This however also implies they are more likely to develop xenophobic and anti-social feelings.
A second thing we mustn't forget is 9/11. Since then society has accepted there are some frictions in the multicultural paradigm. Yes, there are terrorists in the world that want to harm us. Yes, there is a problem of ghettos being formed in our cities. Yes, there is a higher tendency of criminality in those communities. Yes, there is a clash between different cultures. This constatation in itself is not causing the shift to the right. The answers that were provided however does. The right-wing parties have provided answers. Answers of which I dissaprove, but they gave people the feeling that the problems they expierenced were being understood and people tried to do something about it. The left-wing parties have developed a strategy of denial. "There is no problem, the only problem there is is in your head." They never had a real answer to the problems we were facing and people don't vote for people that don't have answers. Curently these answers are being developed but they missed the train, and now a lot of people are already caught in the web of fear and indoctrinated with the "feeling of insafety".
I guess we'll have to wait for another swing in the pendulum before left-wing politics will be followed again.
I would partially agree with what Willem says from my expereince as an engineering student. I can testify that in France and the UK, many (and maybe most) engineering students are conservatives. But I don't think it's a recent phenomenon. They have, I belive, been always this way. These kind of people (like me :-)) have a garanteed job and rich future in the current world and would logically be against any major changes in the current situation and relectant to more share of wealth in society. They could be qualified as conservatives.
I can also only agree with Willem as it seems that the success of the right wing in the goverenement is often in fact linked to the failure of the left wing policies. In france it is quite typical, as more education, more state support made the system better but never solved the problems. In "problems", I include intregration of all citizens, crime, unemployements, riots, exclusion, etc... As the traditional means of the left wing have failed or seemed to fail, people didn't belive in them anymore and turned their votes to more rapid and violent treatments of these problems (stronger penalties, state anti-imigration poilicy, zero tolerance, miminum penalties). Actually these solution are making the problem worse as we have seem with the regular riots in the french getthos but it is currently acknoledge by the people in charge and the media that it is only due to the too low severity of the current penalties...
The other failure of the traditional left wing is that they stopped believing in their own policies and adopted right wing policies (see Tony Blair's govement, or Jospin's governemnt) and policy about the so called "un-security in France".
the last point is also on the role of the media. The example of London is typical. His friends own all the newpapers (free and paying ones) and strongly campagned against Ken livingstone.
The french media also mainly focus on the "problems" you describe but never on the source of these problems: seek of investor for higher proftability, seek for always higher rates of return of investments, generalized unemployement in some area, etc
Most media prefering in general focusing on the surface of the problems: crime, riots, and playing on fright, and sensations of the public.
Hope I was clear enough for this first post on Jolien's blog :-)
There is so much to say on this subject and there are so many examples, it's hard to contain all I would like to say...
(Note: 'his' in Denis's last paragraph is 'Boris Johnson's' :-) )
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