For years, western capitals invoked the Enlightenment -- liberty, equality, reason -- as their moral compass. Across the trans-Atlantic world today, ideas long parked on the fringes, nativism, ethno-nationalism, and hardline "law and order", increasingly shape prime-time debate. This is not a sudden rupture but a gradual normalisation, election by election and motion by motion, testing whether democracies that preached tolerance abroad can still defend it at home.

Normalising once-fringe hardline agendas

Italy has a far-right Prime Minister in Giorgia Meloni, the first since the Second World War. In France, Marine Le Pen's National Rally has shed its outcast tag, taking 41% in the 2022 runoff and often leading opinion polls. Germany's Alternative for Germany (AfD), long kept at arm's length, has topped national surveys, won its first district office, and even the present ruling party of Germany had relied on AfD votes to pass hard-line migration motions, breaching a post-war taboo. In the Nordics, the Sweden Democrats and Finland's Finns Party are no longer gatecrashers but kingmakers, trading support for tougher immigration rules. Mainstream political trends in Hungary and Poland have normalised a nationalist turn. On the Iberian rim, Spain's Vox and Portugal's Chega are gaining ground. What began as protest is edging into power, recasting the centre, not with a single sweep, but through steady local wins and tactical coalitions that shift policy first and politics after. Even where they do not hold power outright, they are dragging the political centre rightward. Traditional conservative parties, desperate to stem the loss of voters, increasingly echo hard-right positions on issues such as immigration, multiculturalism and "law and order". The "Unite the Kingdom" march in London in September, organised by far-right activist Tommy Robinson, drew around 1,10,000 people, one of the largest right-wing demonstrations in recent memory. Mr. Robinson and allied commentators argue that there is a "two-tier policing" regime that treats right-wing protesters more harshly than others, casting their mobilisation as a free-speech defence and themselves as victims of an establishment double standard.

In the United States, the rightward drift is no longer atmospheric; it is administrative now. Since January 20, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump has moved on multiple fronts: an order to constrict birthright citizenship, now tied up in litigation; the resurrection of "Schedule F," reopening the door to sweeping political control over policy posts; a Justice Department push asking the Supreme Court to lock passports to sex assigned at birth; and a headline-grabbing move to slap a $1,00,000 charge on new H-1B visa petitions. Each step signals a project to hard-wire ideology into rules and paperwork. Meanwhile, ideas once confined to the fringe, the 'replacement' conspiracy and talk of an immigrant 'invasion', now echo in prime time and from elected officials, blurring the boundary between protest and policy. Together, policy levers and grievance politics are pulling the Republican party's centre of gravity further right, and dragging the national conversation with it.

A democratic counter-strategy should be sober, not alarmist. Four priorities which need to stand out. First, the need to address material grievances on inflation, public safety, service strain - without scapegoating migrants or minorities. Welfare-chauvinism is politically seductive but fiscally thin for the long term.

Second, maintain the firewall with no Faustian pacts. Short-term parliamentary wins that rely on extremist votes erode long-term democratic norms.

Third, responsibility in media and tech platforms which needs to amplify verified information, throttle demonstrable falsehoods, and insist on context when airing incendiary claims such as "two-tier policing".

Fourth, civic courage for ordinary citizens, institutions, and mainstream parties who must defend equal citizenship and pluralism, principles that have served open societies well.

The stakes for India

For India, the stakes are concrete now. The U.K.'s grievance-driven street politics intersects with diaspora safety and social cohesion. Continental Europe's hardening on migration and identity can shape visa regimes for students and skilled workers, as well as attitudes toward multiculturalism. The U.S. H-1B surcharge -- if it remains in force after litigation and potential congressional scrutiny -- directly raises costs for Indian professionals and firms, potentially diverting investment and talent flows. India also has a diplomatic interest in the quality of liberal democracy among key partners. When mainstream actors chase fringe talking points to protect vote banks, they shift the Overton window on pluralism, media independence and human rights -- the very norms that underpin predictable partnerships, research ties and people-to-people links. That has knock-on effects for Indian students, businesses and long-standing communities abroad.

History and a caution

To be sure, the far-right's ascent has not gone unchallenged. Citizens, activists and leaders continue to push back -- in Germany, Spain and elsewhere, crowds have gathered to say that hate is not welcome, while courts and journalists have exposed abuses that thrive in the shadows. In several western countries, broad alliances have been forged to keep extremists from power, as France's mainstream did against Marine Le Pen. The ideals are not dead yet, but they do need stewards. The question is whether the trans-Atlantic world will live up to its professed values or allow fear to erode gains won over generations. History's caution is plain -- Europe's 1930s showed how a modern society can abandon liberal norms under the spell of demagoguery. The post-war order was built precisely to avoid that slide. Meeting this moment will require sober self-correction: listening to real economic and cultural anxieties without turning them into vendettas; resisting the temptation to launder fringe ideas through expedient coalitions; insisting on accuracy in public debate; and renewing everyday solidarities across lines of difference. Democracies are strongest when they protect the equal dignity of all. Equality, pluralism and reason remain the surest compass if we choose to follow it.

Abhishek Roy Choudhury is a German Chancellor Fellow with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and writes on the Global South, geopolitics and the digital-policy landscape. The views expressed are personal

The far-right's infiltration into the West's mainstream