The far-right may rise but will never arrive

The far-right is good at talking its way onto the stage in an era when parties in Western democracies appear incapable of resolving Europe's economic plight. The far-right may be emotionally connected to enough people to warrant concern, but the real question is will it translate into enough votes in the right places in order to deliver them the government. If we observe elections from the 1990s onwards the dream of executive power has been a mirage. Invariably when parties of the far-right have fulfilled their responsibilities as elected representatives and entered into negotiations with other parties as a part of the legislative process they been rewarded with reversals in their popular support come election time.

Since 1945 the convention has been that mainstream political parties should never cooperate with parties of the far-right and that grand-coalitions between left and right were preferable to bargaining with extremists. This understanding, known as the Cordon Sanitaire, held in good stead until the end of the Cold War. In the aftermath of the fall of communism the far-right made a surprising adaption to the new political environment increasing their share of the vote across Europe. In Italy and Austria the inclusion of parties of the far-right in centre-right governing coalitions tempered some of the more extreme sentiments of these parties and brought them under the control of centrist conservatives.

In the case of Switzerland the Swiss Peoples Party (SVP) is partner in the collective leadership that has governed the country quite well for decades. The SVP is anti-immigration and anti-Islam in its rhetoric and individual members have openly made anti-Semitic and racist remarks. In the actual reality of Swiss politics the ability of the SVP to implement its policies is incredibly limited given the government functions by consensus. The SVP is hemmed in by other parties with whom it shares the responsibilities to govern, parties that do not share its more extreme positions on immigration and Swiss minorities.

When the sinister Austrian Freedom Party joined a governing coalition with a centre-right party its number of seats collapsed from a historic high of 52 to 18, followed by a split within the party. The Italian Northern League and the National Alliance similarly suffered from too close an association with Silvio Berlusconi's governments. Tony Judt made the astute observation that such parties have a tendency to evaporate when they are forced to 'share the burden of unpopular policies' in government. Geert Wilder's party is polling strongly at present though the last time he cooperated with other centre-right parties his vote slid backwards.

These trends give a strong impression that parties of the far-right are better suited to eternal opposition and that their voters neither expect nor especially want them to govern. Disappointment with mainstream parties drove them to the extremes. Why would the far-right who have the most impractical policy platforms not disappoint their supporters all the same?

Perhaps in the future mainstream parties might consider that the strict policy of exclusion is no longer the only tool to be used to deal with the far-right. If their parties cannot survive being included in government maybe it's not quite such a terrible concession to give them a token role that in the end does nothing for their cause. The once powerful Communist Party of France made the mistake of embracing Francois Mitterrand's Socialists not realising the shrewd leader was sapping the strength of their party by forcing them to compromise the party's most cherished principles. Parties of the far-right and far-left want to be in government but they can only maintain their credibility from the fringes of opposition not in positions of responsibility. If they fail to recognise this, which they often do, why not take the opportunity to lead them down the path of ruin?

By recognising a far-right takeover is not on the table anywhere, some of the hysteria associated with the rise of the far-right can be dampened down. Political leaders would be better off affirming the strengths of their democratic institutions and taking the time to include a greater diversity of citizens and viewpoints within their parties. The objective should be to reach out to voters who are politically energised yet disillusioned and dissuade them from devoting themselves to parties of the extreme-right.

In the end we should have faith that the people of Europe and elsewhere will not repeat the continent's misadventure of the 1930s. Democratic institutions are secure enough and the people sophisticated enough to know that the parties of the far-right cannot conceivably govern a state much less solve the problems effecting Europe.