What does the rise of racist politics reveal about the Western world?

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak* 

The rise of racism, xenophobia, anti-migrant mobilisation, and flag-waving nationalist movements proclaiming that "Britain is for the British, Europe for Europeans, and America for Americans" is no longer a fringe phenomenon confined to isolated communities. These reactionary movements increasingly influence mainstream political parties, encouraging an illiberal turn in electoral rhetoric, public policy, and governance across much of the Western world.

The West, which has long celebrated its achievements in science, the Renaissance, economic prosperity, democracy, and human rights, now appears to be confronting the resurgence of its own reactionary past. The growth of right-wing populism across Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States is not merely a temporary political or cultural anomaly. Rather, it reflects a deep social and economic crisis that has revived the legacies of colonial racism while recasting them as sources of national pride.

Western prosperity was built in significant measure upon colonial exploitation. That legacy continues to shape contemporary racial capitalism—a system that reproduces social divisions and constructs "others" to obscure its structural failures and inequalities.

The post-Second World War commitment to multiculturalism emerged not only from humanitarian ideals but also from economic necessity, as labour shortages required immigration to rebuild war-torn economies. Today, however, that consensus is under strain amid multiple crises of capitalism and imperialism. Over the past five decades, neoliberal policies have transferred wealth from working populations to corporate and financial elites under the banner of free markets and consumer choice. As economic insecurity has deepened, multiculturalism has increasingly become a political scapegoat.

The revival of racist politics reveals not only the fragility of Western commitments to democracy and human rights but also an anxiety about declining economic and geopolitical dominance. Flag-waving nationalism and anti-immigrant politics often function as political distractions, diverting public attention from the failures of market-led democracy and widening social inequality. The liberal democratic order has proved less resilient than many assumed because illiberal tendencies have always coexisted with capitalist and imperial models of governance.

Neoliberalism promised shared prosperity through market competition. Instead, it transformed citizens into consumers and reduced rights to purchasing power. When purchasing power declines, so too does people's ability to live with dignity. Economic insecurity has contributed to growing distrust of democratic institutions while encouraging political leaders to redirect public frustration towards migrants rather than addressing structural economic problems.

In reality, liberalisation, privatisation, and globalisation have accelerated deindustrialisation across much of Europe and North America. At the same time, the expansion of finance, banking, insurance, and technology sectors has disproportionately benefited highly educated urban professionals. The resulting economic dislocation has fuelled resentment among sections of the working class. Rather than confronting the structural consequences of neoliberal restructuring, political elites have frequently channelled this discontent towards immigrants, particularly people of colour, despite migrants' substantial contributions to economic and social life.

The inability of contemporary capitalism to deliver widespread prosperity, combined with the absence of credible progressive political alternatives, has created fertile ground for racism, xenophobia, and exclusionary nationalism. These developments are not political accidents but are closely connected to the historical dynamics of racial capitalism in Europe, Britain, and the United States.

The promise of the American Dream—and its broader Western equivalents—has increasingly given way to economic precarity, social anxiety, and widespread mental health challenges. Many young people struggle to secure stable employment, affordable housing, or the financial means to start families. Declining birth rates are closely associated with these conditions of economic insecurity and social isolation. In this context, white supremacist narratives seek to redefine national identity by portraying demographic change as an existential threat rather than examining the underlying economic conditions that shape demographic trends.

This politics of division ignores an obvious reality. Migrants work throughout Western societies as teachers, academics, healthcare professionals, transport workers, construction workers, entrepreneurs, and essential service providers. They are not external to national life but integral to it.

Immigration policy in Europe, Britain, and the United States has historically been driven more by economic demand than by a genuine commitment to multicultural inclusion. Governments have repeatedly expanded or restricted immigration according to labour market requirements while failing to cultivate an inclusive civic identity capable of transcending ethnic and racial divisions. As mainstream political parties have increasingly shifted towards the right in pursuit of electoral advantage, they have legitimised ideas that were once confined to the political margins, thereby strengthening reactionary movements.

Institutional structures—including policing, legal systems, and political representation—often continue to reflect historical inequalities. Where diversity in leadership remains limited and institutional cultures fail to engage meaningfully with multicultural realities, public confidence in democratic governance is weakened. Such conditions create space for racial prejudice to become normalised within public discourse and institutional practice.

Economic marginalisation, declining trust in democratic institutions, and unequal access to justice have weakened many of the foundations upon which multicultural societies depend. Meanwhile, cosmopolitan political and economic elites, regardless of ethnicity, have largely defended existing capitalist arrangements while offering limited responses to growing inequality and social fragmentation.

The resurgence of racist and reactionary politics exposes contradictions that have long existed within Western liberal democracies. Liberalism, democracy, human rights, women's rights, and multiculturalism have often functioned both as genuine normative commitments and as instruments of political legitimacy. The persistence of colonial nostalgia in parts of the Western world demonstrates that the colonial past has not been fully confronted. Instead, it continues to shape contemporary political identities and public debates.

Market-led capitalist democracies frequently reproduce historical inequalities by reinforcing divisions based on race, class, nationality, and culture. If the West is to renew itself, it must critically confront both its colonial inheritance and the inequalities embedded within contemporary racial capitalism. Such renewal requires more than policy reform. It demands a broader social, economic, political, and cultural transformation grounded in equality, liberty, justice, and democratic inclusion.

An inclusive democratic culture must actively celebrate multicultural citizenship while rejecting the legacies of white supremacy and colonial domination. Only through such a transformation can the Western world aspire to become a genuinely democratic and equitable society in which people live and work together in peace, dignity, and solidarity.

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*Academic based in UK