ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the global rise of the radical Right, and why and how it has again become established on the global political stage despite its gross excesses of the period leading up to, and in particular during, World War II. It looks at how many otherwise ordinary people around the world, feeling alienated by changes they do not understand and cannot control in an increasingly uncertain world, have retreated to populism and national chauvinism, often fueled by conspiracy theories. While the radical Right manifests distinctly in different countries, this reflects the nationalist character of its organizations, if still sharing a number of common characteristics. Perhaps the most important these characteristics is that the radical Right is exclusive rather than inclusive and hence, at its core, anti-democratic.
