As if it were a medieval explorer circumnavigating the unknown world half a millennium ago, the newest brand of political conservatism is beginning to reach all parts of the globe’s democratically elected national governments.
Each version of this political trend, like a fingerprint, is unique, but its general principles are being established as voters everywhere reject leftist governments that have touted social welfare, redistributionist ideologies, and various neo-Marxist policies which have failed.
Almost every week brings news of another conservative victory in a national election. This past week, it was the surprise landslide victory for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party, which will now enjoy a supermajority in parliament.
The conservative Takaichi, called the Margaret Thatcher of Japan, had been named her country’s first woman prime minister only months ago. She is viewed by many as the ideological successor of the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a conservative icon who was assassinated in 2022.
Last week also brought news of a conservative win in the Costa Rican elections, continuing a streak of similar contests in South and Central America resulting in conservative victories, including in Paraguay, Argentina, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, and Honduras.
In Europe, the number of conservative governments is growing, and includes Italy, Hungary, Poland, Finland, Switzerland, Greece, Sweden, Slovakia, and Croatia. There are major conservative parties in Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Norway, Germany, and France. Several of these parties could win the upcoming national elections. Though Europe’s brand of conservatism is mild by U.S. standards, its rise is nonetheless a departure from decades of dominance by liberal parties and socialist policies.
The most populous democracy in the world, India, has been ruled by a conservative leader and party since 2014.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a conservative who has led the State of Israel out of its original socialist economy into a booming free market hub of innovation and industrial success.
The most powerful global nation, the United States, is recovering its world leadership and influence under President Donald Trump, whose party also controls the U.S. Congress. Following his upset victory in 2024, becoming just the second person to ever win non-consecutive presidential terms, Trump has been restoring U.S. economic and military power with his own brand of conservative governance.
Exceptions to this conservative trend have been the defeat of governments on the right in the United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, and Australia. South Korea has also turned leftward.
Non-democratic nations, including China, North Korea, Russia, Iran, Syria, Venezuela, and Cuba, remain totalitarian states — although Iran, Syria, Venezuela, and Cuba could face imminent change.
As stated before, each conservative government and its leader has brought their own variation to the global conservative resurgence. Some stress nationalism, others stress populism, while still others seek to bring about military and economic revival. All of them seek to employ timeless principles of promoting free markets and encouraging competition and entrepreneurship in order to repair the damage from previous national experiments with social welfare and other socialist policies that led inevitably to hardships and decline.
Many conservative leaders are charismatic figures. The most obvious of these is Trump, but Netanyahu, Takaichi, President Javier Milei of Argentina, Geert Wilders of the Netherlands, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy, President Viktor Orban of Hungary, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India all have iconic personal brands as well.
With several national elections coming up in 2026, 2027, and 2028, there is much potential for the now global conservative political trend to continue and expand. If President Trump’s efforts to reduce or eliminate current military confrontations in Europe and the Middle East are successful, the prospects for more conservative governments will be significantly enhanced.
The contemporary political playing field, however, not only includes the usual competing teams but has been notably altered by the new rules and innovations of accelerating technologies, including artificial intelligence, medical and energy breakthroughs, and advances in communications.
To succeed in this next level of global civilization, conservative principles must meet new challenges as the always uncertain future unfolds.
Barry Casselman is a writer for AMAC Newsline.
