The world continued to turn right in 2025. Across continents, a surge in protectionism and nationalism challenged the long-standing norms of international cooperation.
With persistent socioeconomic pressure, experts warn that this conservative political template, which finds resonance in and beyond the United States, is poised to strengthen further this year.
The wave began in Washington, DC, last year. In January, the new US administration promised that the "golden age of America begins right now", setting the tone for a global shift.
In just a few months, the White House had imposed high tariffs on the US trading partners, starting a pattern of on-again, off-again tariffs and retaliatory measures.
The wave quickly spread across the Atlantic, with European far-right movements stepping into the spotlight in February. The Patriots for Europe, a right-wing to far-right political group in the European Parliament, held a summit in Spain, applauding the US administration's protectionist agenda, and spoke of the turning point it presented for Europe under the banner of "make Europe great again".
By October, this political trend had reached a pivotal moment in East Asia. On Oct 21, conservative leader Sanae Takaichi, an advocate for revising Japan's pacifist constitution, was elected as the country's 104th prime minister.
Experts said her victory and the coalition government placed military expansion and constitutional revision at the core of the national agenda, signaling a rightward shift in Japan's security policy.
By December, the trend had reached South America. That month, right-leaning Republican Party of Chile candidate Jose Antonio Kast defeated the left-wing incumbent Gabriel Boric in the Chilean presidential election. Kast, who is due to take office in March this year, has vowed to tackle crime and tighten immigration.
His victory confirmed a broader rightward tilt across the Latin American political map last year, including right-wing politicians' wins in Ecuador and Bolivia.
Rise of conservatism
From the revival of the conservative agenda in Washington to the rise of the far-right in Europe, and from Japan's nationalist pivot to the political shift in Latin America, the trend was more apparent in 2025.
A new political grammar is erasing regional borders and embedding itself in national agendas, spawning a diverse array of homegrown conservatism, observers note.
The policy practices of this US administration have become an ideological template for right-wing movements across the globe. At its core lies the standardized export of political ideas, analysts say. Slogans like "Make America Great Again" have been localized, becoming an iconic political phrase.
Japan, for instance, offers a clear example of this localized conservatism model. The political insurgency is seen in the rapid ascent of the "Sanseito" party. It's known for its nationalist "Japanese first" agenda, warning against a "silent invasion of foreigners".
Its leader, Sohei Kamiya, previously said that he had drawn inspiration from US President Donald Trump's "bold political style".
Rintaro Nishimura, a senior associate at The Asia Group, told the BBC that, like the US president, Kamiya drew attention with his "often inflammatory and controversial remarks" on the campaign trail.
"His comments were spread across social media in a very well-coordinated campaign," Nishimura said.
This strategy proved effective. Founded online in 2020, Sanseito captured 15 seats in Japan's upper house elections in July, transforming from a fringe group into a key force.
Emerging parties
This shift is not unique to Japan. Rather, it is part of a global restructuring of political power.
Zhang Jinling, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of European Studies, told China Daily that the shift is clearly reflected in the microcosm of party politics.
"The rise of once-fringe far-right parties has done more than win seats," he said. "It has forced other parties to respond to their demands, serving a crucial 'agenda-setting' function."
For decades after the end of the Cold War, far-right parties largely operated on the fringes. That pattern has now been shattered.
In 2025, far-right or conservative parties rose through the ballot box to become a critical force. This transformation has been particularly dramatic in Europe in recent years, analysts said.
More right-wing parties are emerging and gaining power across the continent.
In the United Kingdom's local elections in May last year, the Reform UK party, founded just seven years ago, won more than 670 seats out of about 1,600, challenging the country's largely two-party system.
Similarly, Portugal's Chega ("Enough") party, established in 2019, achieved a historic result in elections the same month.
The far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, achieved an unprecedented 20.8 percent of parliamentary votes in February last year, making it the second-largest party in the German Bundestag, the lower house of parliament.
When AfD was founded in 2013, it garnered less than 5 percent of the votes, missing the threshold to enter parliament.
Wang Mingjin, a professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said last year's German election stands as the year's landmark event.
He said that the AfD not only achieved its best result but also signaled a "major restructuring" in the German political landscape.
Economic instability
The rapid ascent of "outsider" parties to the mainstream is rooted in deep-seated global contradictions. Analysts say widespread economic anxiety, intensifying security concerns, and fracturing identities have combined to create fertile ground for this rightward shift.
Intersecting crises deepened the global predicament in 2025. US-led tariff wars exacerbated regional and global supply chains and economic instability, while the Russia-Ukraine conflict continued to create uncertainty in international markets, severely harming industrial development and livelihoods.
Under this shared pressure, distinct structural dilemmas — such as Europe's refugee crisis, Japan's aging population, and Latin America's security issues — have shaped the contours of the "right turn", analysts said.
Yan Shaohua, deputy director of Fudan University's Center for China-Europe Relations, believes all political problems are ultimately economic.
Europe's economic woes have been intensified by the US tariffs, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and deindustrialization, Yan said. With stagnant incomes and shrinking social welfare, European voters are focusing more on self-interest.
Europe's political landscape risks further fragmentation, warned Zhang at the Institute of European Studies.
To maintain governance, traditional mainstream parties may be forced to form fragile coalition governments or compromise on key issues with far-right demands, exacerbating policy uncertainty, he added.
Wang said that losing cheap Russian energy has forced a pivot toward defense spending, signaling a "militarization" of the economy that, alongside massive loans for Ukraine aid, has further stoked public dissatisfaction.
He added that while immigration is frequently sensationalized, it serves primarily as a populist "scapegoat" for poor governance rather than being the primary driver of right-wing support.
Social anxiety
Across the Pacific, Japan faced political turmoil in 2025, driven by severe livelihood issues. With the price of a standard 5-kilogram bag of rice approaching up to 4,400 yen ($30), double the price two years ago, panic-buying became common.
Zhou Yongsheng, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University's Institute of International Relations, told media that this shift was due to both external and internal pressures.
Externally, US tariffs — which rose to about 15 percent, according to various estimates — have dealt a heavy blow to the automotive export industry, Zhou said.
Domestically, strategic missteps in technology, such as betting on hydrogen over lithium batteries, have also weakened the country's competitiveness. Furthermore, with nearly 30 percent of the population over 65, labor shortages and soaring social security costs have severely constrained the consumer market, Zhou added.
While Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi has managed to secure political support through right-wing rhetoric and aggressive tactics, Zhou argued that her administration will be counterproductive.
By adopting a provocative stance toward Asian neighbors and instigating disputes, Japan is making enemies on all sides, offering no benefit to the struggling Japanese society, he said.
Backlash in the Americas
South America has also struggled with high inflation and sluggish growth, with regional expansion projected at just 2.4 percent in 2025, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Experts said this rightward tilt is largely a reaction to the failure of previous policies.
Cristobal Rovira Kaltwasser, a professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, said that the decline in the left's "golden age" created a vacuum where the "new extreme right" could position itself as the only force willing to take measures to address crime and public safety.
The extreme right in Latin America is hemmed in by the enduring problem of inequality, which has been exacerbated by the neoliberal economic model since the 1980s, Rovira said.
The far-right refocuses the question of inequality, blaming self-dealing elites, while also emphasizing "traditional values", Rovira said.
Test of governance
While election victories rely on mobilization and packaged promises, governing a nation requires confronting and addressing deep-seated challenges, such as economic insecurity and identity. For right-wing parties, the true test of governance has only just begun, Rovira said.
Experts predict that some right-wing governments will gradually become moderate and pragmatic after taking office.
"Whether it is right-wing, far-right, left-wing, or centrist governance, all face the same political, economic, and social realities. Once in power, right-wing governments also need to respond to public demands and address practical economic and security challenges within this context," said Yan of Fudan University.
He said that despite this conservative tide, opportunities for breakthrough exist.
The key, he said, lies in strengthening communication and cooperation with states and political forces that maintain a pragmatic stance, building pragmatic partnerships to navigate the fragmented landscape.