Preposition: Despite both reactionary and communist obsession with the Right-Left axis, throughout modern (post-Berlin Wall) Europe, political forces are best (most predictively) divided NOT between Left and Right, but rather between those forces that look up to Brussels, vs those forces that look up to Moscow. Independent-ist forces exist, but they’re largely irrelevant as by nature they are isolated and thus weak.
Example: 2012 elections in Greece saw both the far-left and the far-right parties rise to far greater electoral heights than before. Did Greece’s Overton window dramatically widen in both directions? No—what led these political parties to such success was not widely different positions, but their common position against the European Union. Greece didn’t move towards both directions, it moved towards the single direction represented by both Communists and Neonazis: the Moscow direction, the direction of hating the EU.
It sounds incoherent to argue that Greece lies politically both to the leftmost of the rest of the EU, and to its rightmost. But one could coherently argue that Greece is both the least Universalist nation in the EU (least concerned about human rights/democracy/equality) -- and also the EU nation that looks up to Russia.
The Orange Revolution in Ukraine was another case where the political forces in question were best divided between pro-European and pro-Moscow, rather than between Left and Right.
How well does that explain politics in Western Europe, where for the most part there are no pro-Moscow political parties? It certainly appears that Russian influence on politics is negligible in Western Europe—is this incorrect? Why is hating the EU necessarily a pro-Moscow position?
Please explain how the political parties map onto your axis in, say, Britain.
It certainly appears that Russian influence on politics is negligible in Western Europe—is this incorrect?
It’s not as visible in Western Europe, but I think it’s incorrect to call it negligible yes—e.g. I understand that very recently there was some noise in the UK over the Conservative Friends of Russia who used an anti-gay attack on a Labour Party politician who was criticizing Russia’s human rights record.
Why is hating the EU necessarily a pro-Moscow position?
It isn’t necessarily so. But hating the EU currently helps Moscow policy, so any anti-EU movement will tend to be supported from afar by Moscow, which will in turn tend to lead such movements to end up holding pro-Moscow positions.
e.g. The russian textbook Foundations of Geopolitics says “United Kingdom should be cut off from Europe.”
Please explain how the political parties map onto your axis in, say, Britain.
Where I use ‘universalism’ to mean ‘focus on equality, democracy, human rights’.
Liberal-Democrats—very Universalist, very pro-EU, significantly anti-Russia Labour Party—somewhat Universalist, somewhat pro-EU, somewhat anti-Russia (currently—it used to be different) Conservative Party—minimally Universalist, recently getting more anti-EU, and recently getting cozier with Russia BNP—very anti-Universalist, extremely anti-EU, extremelypro-Russia.
So I think that the pattern I observe holds even in the UK. e.g. The Conservatives are the main anti-EU party in the UK, and they’re also in the same parliamentary group in the Council of Europe as Putin’s party...
Preposition: Despite both reactionary and communist obsession with the Right-Left axis, throughout modern (post-Berlin Wall) Europe, political forces are best (most predictively) divided NOT between Left and Right, but rather between those forces that look up to Brussels, vs those forces that look up to Moscow. Independent-ist forces exist, but they’re largely irrelevant as by nature they are isolated and thus weak.
Example: 2012 elections in Greece saw both the far-left and the far-right parties rise to far greater electoral heights than before. Did Greece’s Overton window dramatically widen in both directions? No—what led these political parties to such success was not widely different positions, but their common position against the European Union. Greece didn’t move towards both directions, it moved towards the single direction represented by both Communists and Neonazis: the Moscow direction, the direction of hating the EU.
It sounds incoherent to argue that Greece lies politically both to the leftmost of the rest of the EU, and to its rightmost. But one could coherently argue that Greece is both the least Universalist nation in the EU (least concerned about human rights/democracy/equality) -- and also the EU nation that looks up to Russia.
The Orange Revolution in Ukraine was another case where the political forces in question were best divided between pro-European and pro-Moscow, rather than between Left and Right.
How well does that explain politics in Western Europe, where for the most part there are no pro-Moscow political parties? It certainly appears that Russian influence on politics is negligible in Western Europe—is this incorrect? Why is hating the EU necessarily a pro-Moscow position?
Please explain how the political parties map onto your axis in, say, Britain.
It’s not as visible in Western Europe, but I think it’s incorrect to call it negligible yes—e.g. I understand that very recently there was some noise in the UK over the Conservative Friends of Russia who used an anti-gay attack on a Labour Party politician who was criticizing Russia’s human rights record.
It isn’t necessarily so. But hating the EU currently helps Moscow policy, so any anti-EU movement will tend to be supported from afar by Moscow, which will in turn tend to lead such movements to end up holding pro-Moscow positions.
e.g. The russian textbook Foundations of Geopolitics says “United Kingdom should be cut off from Europe.”
Where I use ‘universalism’ to mean ‘focus on equality, democracy, human rights’.
Liberal-Democrats—very Universalist, very pro-EU, significantly anti-Russia
Labour Party—somewhat Universalist, somewhat pro-EU, somewhat anti-Russia (currently—it used to be different)
Conservative Party—minimally Universalist, recently getting more anti-EU, and recently getting cozier with Russia
BNP—very anti-Universalist, extremely anti-EU, extremely pro-Russia.
So I think that the pattern I observe holds even in the UK. e.g. The Conservatives are the main anti-EU party in the UK, and they’re also in the same parliamentary group in the Council of Europe as Putin’s party...