Anti-System Extremisms

In a world where ideological polarizations seem irreconcilable, a phenomenon as surprising as it is troubling has emerged: the convergence between Europe’s most extreme right-wing factions and left-wing groups, once moderate but now radicalized, alongside their already radical counterparts. The unsettling core of this alignment lies in their visceral rejection of the liberal West and their admiration—varying in degree and driven by disparate motives—for Russia’s authoritarian model. This anti-Westernism, coupled with selective anti-Americanism and pro-Russian rhetoric, not only defies traditional political categories but reveals a tactical alliance that, though seemingly unnatural, exposes deep convergences in their disdain for democratic modernity and nostalgia for a lost, glorified past.

Rejection of Global Liberalism and Western Hegemony

Hard-right movements like Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) or France’s Rassemblement National (RN) detest the global liberalism they associate with U.S. hegemony and, to a lesser extent, the European Union. For them, this model poses an existential threat to national identities, traditional values, and state sovereignty.

For extremists of all stripes, globalization is a corrosive project that erodes borders and cultures. Curiously, some totalitarian sectors of the right echo an anti-capitalist sentiment more reminiscent of Marxism than the classic foundations of conservatism—a throwback to fascism and Nazism, whose economic programs shared with socialism a rejection of free markets.

The radical left, meanwhile, shares this aversion to global liberalism, though through an anti-capitalist lens that runs through all its currents, from the most orthodox to the most extreme. For these groups, the West—and particularly the United States—embodies the economic and military imperialism that perpetuates global inequalities and exploits the so-called “Global South.” In this view, Russia emerges as a necessary counterweight, a player challenging Western supremacy. Thus, both extremes converge in pinpointing the “liberal West” as a force that undermines their ideals: tradition for the hard right, and a falsely egalitarian revolution for the radical and radicalized left.

Selective Anti-Americanism as a Political Weapon
The hard right’s anti-Americanism is neither universal nor absolute. They admire aspects of the U.S., such as Donald Trump’s apparent conservatism or the influence of the Protestant religious right (Evangelicals)—though this is hard to transplant to Europe—while fiercely rejecting the sway of “woke” sectors (a stance shared by much of Spain’s center-right) and America’s role as a “global policeman.” This rejection fuels their opposition to NATO and the EU, seen as extensions of a U.S. agenda that stifles national sovereignty.

In contrast, the radical left professes a more structural anti-Americanism, rooted in historical critiques of U.S. interventions in Vietnam, Iraq, or Latin America. For them, Russia is a victim of NATO expansion and an ally in the fight against “Yankee imperialism.” In both cases, the United States stands as the symbol of Western power to be weakened, though their motives differ on the surface: sovereign nationalism for the right, anti-imperialism for the left.

Fascination with Russia’s Authoritarian Model
The admiration for Vladimir Putin’s Russia unites these extremes in a peculiar idealization. The hard right sees in him a strong leader defending traditional values—family, religion, nation—against the “decadent progressivism” of the West. For the extreme right, Russia is a bulwark against immigration, multiculturalism, and secularization, with some even hailing it as a champion of a white, Christian Europe, applauding measures like its anti-LGBTQ legislation.
The radical left, while not sharing this conservatism, values Putin’s defiance of U.S. hegemony and his push for a world where the West is subdued—or at least diminished.

Nostalgia and Rejection of Western Modernity
Nostalgia is another point of intersection. The hard right pines for a mythologized past of homogeneous nations and Christian values, threatened by the liberal modernity of the West. Russia, with its Orthodox conservatism blended with post-communist imperialism, offers a mirror to that lost ideal. The radical left, by contrast, evokes the Soviet Union or a pre-globalization world where the Eastern Bloc stood as an alternative to liberal democracy and capitalism. Though Putin’s Russia is no longer communist, it symbolically inherits that oppositional role. Both reject Western modernity—whether for tradition or anti-imperialism—and see Moscow as a return to a more “authentic” order.

Anti-NATO, Anti-EU, and Populism as Bonds
The anti-NATO and anti-EU rhetoric strengthens this convergence. The hard right condemns NATO as a tool of U.S. domination and the EU as a “woke” bureaucracy strangling sovereignty, aligning with Russia’s vision of a Europe of nations. The radical left, with its historic cry of “No to NATO, bases out!” views these institutions as the military and economic arms of “Western imperialism.” Populism, moreover, serves as a potent and toxic link: both pit the “people”—pure for the right, oppressed for the left—against cosmopolitan elites, admiring in Putin a strong, “anti-establishment” leadership.

A Threat to Liberal Democracies
This unnatural convergence between extremes reveals a troubling essence: an anti-capitalism, anti-liberalism, and rejection of liberal democracies that unites them in opposing fundamental rights and the principle of non-discrimination, cornerstones of the global order. Their fascination with authoritarian models like Russia’s not only challenges the Western project but endangers the basic freedoms it upholds. In a world in crisis, this ideological paradox must be seen as a serious threat to our liberties, to our systems of freedom—ultimately, to our democracies, the true champions of humanity’s most sacred values: life, liberty, dignity, respect for diversity, and justice without discrimination.

Gustavo de Arístegui served as Spain’s ambassador to India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives, and Bhutan (2012-2016).

(Cover Photo Credit: Canva)