Right turn

With the US currently at the polls for the mid-term elections, here's hoping that the nation's voters come to their senses and deliver a bloody nose (or worse) to Donald Trump and his Republican cronies. It should be acknowledged, though, that prominent demagogues like Trump aren't the sole cause of the alarming rise of the (far) right around the world in recent years.

As this piece by Carnegie Europe's Richard Youngs makes clear, from Brazil to Poland to Thailand, it's a process taking place from the bottom up as well as the top down, fuelled by grassroots, community and single-issue movements. What's more, many of these movements appeal to and are even driven by the young - it's not just older generations who seek to push a conservative agenda. A sobering and troubling state of affairs, to be sure.