Al-Arabiya, Saudi Arabia, Originally posted in Arabic on August 19
We often talk about the surge in radicalism throughout the Arab World, but fail to look at what is happening in the West. In both the United States and the United Kingdom – the world’s leading democracies – political radicalism has been on the rise.
In America, the presidential elections gave rise to Donald Trump, whose politics could be considered too conservative even for the Republican Party itself. His rhetoric is bellicose and antagonistic, and he does not shy away from launching personal attacks against his political opponents. His success, however, should not come as a surprise: the Republican Party has been continuously moving to the right, with the Tea Party becoming a growing electorate within it.
At the same time, the American left also experienced radicalization. Bernie Sanders, the leading Democratic candidate, is an avid liberal calling for the implementation of extremely progressive policies. His worldview is rooted in a socialist agenda and he is determined to break the American capitalist system.
Not too far from there, in Europe, similar trends are taking place. In the United Kingdom, Jeremy Corbyn – a socialist leader and an anti-war activist – has been gaining widespread popularity in his attempt to win the leadership of the Labour Party. His politics may very well take the Party from Britain’s center to its left-most margins. Similarly, in Greece, recent parliamentary elections gave rise to the Syriza Party – which is also known as “The Coalition of the Radical Left”.
What we are witnessing today across the world are increasingly polarized and radical political systems. We must, therefore, remember that even democracies are susceptible to change, and that radicalism is not just a problem in the Middle East. – Eyad Abu Shakra