COVID-19 has fundamentally altered the logic of Austrian politics as refugees and the question of Islam in Austrian society have become largely irrelevant.
Neither widespread popular disaffection with the government nor equally widespread disenchantment with the European Union have helped Vox advance in the polls.
Today, the divide from which Marine Le Pen profits has reached alarming proportions, most recently with the eruption of the revolt of the gilets jaunes.
For decades, radical right-wing populism has been accompanied by a narrative warning of the fundamental threat these parties pose to liberal democracy. The effect has been close to zero.
Is it
entirely unreasonable to expect that Italy's populists in power, though unavoidable, will end up
like many governments before them – mugged by harsh reality?
