Under President Trump, the United States is experiencing a resurgence of right-wing nationalist rhetoric and political organization. The growth of far-right nationalism has transcended international borders and is currently becoming a global phenomenon affecting the politics of various European countries.

Political parties with right-wing nationalist philosophies have garnered influence and power in many European countries, even occasionally pushing their politicians to the highest positions of power.

In Germany, Alternative for Germany (AfD), a far-right populist and right-wing nationalist party, became the third largest party in the parliament of Germany after the country’s 2017 federal election. According to the Federal Returning Officer’s poll, the party won over 90 seats and 12.6 percent of the vote. Aside from their anti-immigration stance, the party has also expressed anti-Muslim sentiment on social media by disapproving of the burka, a garment worn by many Muslim women.

The Czech Republic appointed Andrej Babis as prime minister in December. Action for Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO), his anti-immigration party, totaled over twice as many votes as the next largest political faction. Similar to Germany, the Czech Republic re-elected Milos Zeman for president, who has also expressed far-right and anti-immigrant sentiment.

“The problem with those movements is that it’s a response to economic uncertainty and demographic uncertainty, and it’s being promoted for political and economic advantage,” history and social science teacher Damon Halback said.

Dr. Jonathan Olsen, the chair of the Department of History and Government at Texas Woman’s University, said that far-right parties attempt to harm the roots of democracy.

“[Far-right movements] are right-wing extremists in business suits who try to paint themselves as reasonable, but a lot of the ideas that they’re pedaling will gut certain pillars of liberal democracy such as individual rights and protections of minorities,” Dr. Olsen said.

Among various reasons, their actions stem from religious faith, national law and traditionalism, populism and social stratification.

“What you see in some countries like Hungary is that [right-wing extremists] try to enact limits on press freedom [and] publications they disagree with,” Dr. Olsen said.

In Germany, Muslim women are mocked by the AfD, and in the Czech Republic a majority of the media is controlled and censored by Andrej Babis. The United States is not alone in this rise of the right.

This piece was originally published in the pages of the Winged Post on February 5, 2018.