The increasing alignment of young individuals with far-right political movements is a significant trend across the European Union (Mieriņa & Koroļeva, 2015; Zagórski et al., 2021). However, this phenomenon is not anomalous but a response to widespread political inefficacy and institutional stagnation.
The Impossibility of Imagining the Future
A key distinction between contemporary youth and previous generations is the prevailing inability to envision a sustainable future. Climate catastrophe, resource-driven conflicts, water scarcity, and a global economic crisis have ceased to be hypothetical concerns, manifesting as immediate realities. These crises threaten not only economic and political systems but human survival itself.
Once-prominent aspirations of technological and space exploration, alongside societal progress, have faded. The utopian visions of human advancement beyond political and social limitations have been replaced by the grim expectation of mere survival. The question is no longer about progress but about the bleak comparison of dystopian futures akin to Mad Max or Fallout.
Youth Disorientation and Political Failure
Young people struggle to build viable life projects within a world seemingly in terminal decline. Climate change, once considered a distant threat, is unfolding at an alarming rate. The illusion of continuity has led humanity to the brink of collapse. Meanwhile, democracy has become performative. Elections, debates, and legislation persist, yet the fundamental trajectory remains unchanged. Even within European social democracies, where social progress exists, political mechanisms have failed to curb an economic system rooted in unchecked exploitation and the myth of infinite growth. The left-right divide has blurred, with neoliberal capitalism prevailing as the dominant paradigm.
The consequences of systemic failure are tangible: unaffordable housing, precarious jobs, mental health crises, inflation, and declining public services. These issues, stemming from an economic model prioritizing capital over collective well-being, persist regardless of political ideology. The core grievance is not merely these problems but democracy’s inability to offer credible solutions, reinforcing its subservience to economic interests (Jameson & Žižek). Moreover, capitalism has historically profited from catastrophe (Berardi, 2017).
The Erosion of Protest as a Mechanism for Change
Faced with systemic inertia, anger prevails. However, activism and protests have lost effectiveness in enacting structural change. Demonstrations, no matter their scale, are quickly overshadowed by the relentless digital information cycle. Even large-scale movements like Spain’s 15M, once seemingly transformative, have been absorbed into the political system, losing their disruptive potential.
Additionally, youth activism is fragmented by social media’s isolating effects. As Hang (2022) notes, young people are confined to ideological echo chambers, diminishing their ability to engage in collective political reasoning. This has eroded the shared public sphere, reducing youth to passive consumers in the attention economy (Franck, 2019). Protest has been commodified, becoming a performative act rather than a mechanism for substantive change.
Unconscious Nihilism and the Turn to Far-Right Politics
Disillusioned by democracy’s failure to challenge entrenched economic structures, young people turn to radical, anti-systemic options. The appeal of far-right figures like Donald Trump stems not from ideological alignment but from a desire to disrupt a dysfunctional political system. This shift reflects a form of unconscious nihilistic accelerationism—an attempt to force systemic rupture through self-destructive electoral choices. Young voters, disenchanted with conventional politics, seek an agent of chaos to provoke systemic collapse. This underscores a broader existential crisis: what alternatives remain? What future can be imagined?
Ultimately, the rise of far-right ideologies among youth is not merely a reactionary shift but a symptom of deep systemic failures. Addressing this requires more than condemning extremism—it demands a fundamental reevaluation of political structures, economic paradigms, and democracy’s capacity to confront existential threats.
References
Mieriņa, I., & Koroļeva, I. (2015). Support for Far Right Ideology and Anti-Migrant Attitudes among Youth in Europe: A Comparative Analysis. European Sociological Review, 31(6), 706-720. Available on: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280917750_Support_for_Far_Right_Ideology_and_Anti-Migrant_Attitudes_among_Youth_in_Europe_A_Comparative_Analysis
Zagórski, P., Rama, J., & Cordero, G. (2021). Young and Temporary: Youth Employment Insecurity and Support for Right-Wing Populist Parties in Europe. Electoral Studies, 72, 102345. Available on: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336444416_Young_and_Temporary_Youth_Employment_Insecurity_and_Support_for_Right-Wing_Populist_Parties_in_Europe
Berardi, F. (2017). Futurability: The Age of Impotence and the Horizon of Possibility. Verso Books. Available on: https://www.versobooks.com/products/338-futurability
Franck, G. (2019). The Economy of Attention. Journal of Sociology, 55(1), 3-7. Available on: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1440783318811778
Fisher, M. (2009). Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? Zero Books. Available on: https://files.libcom.org/files/Capitalist%20Realism_%20Is%20There%20No%20Alternat%20-%20Mark%20Fisher.pdf
