{"id":5815,"date":"2017-10-27T11:41:31","date_gmt":"2017-10-27T11:41:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T21:45:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T21:45:18","slug":"the-malicious-right-wing-shift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\/","title":{"rendered":"The Malicious Right-Wing Shift"},"content":{"rendered":"

Right-wing shift was one of the buzzwords that dominated all news reports about the recent election results. However, the left-right paradigm no longer applies. A commentary by our President, Karl von Habsburg.<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

some people think<\/p>\n

reft and light<\/p>\n

cannot be confuzed<\/p>\n

what an errer<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These words by the Austrian poet and wordsmith Ernst Jandl may well come to mind when one considers the reporting on the recent elections in Europe, but also in America. Donald Trump is labelled a right-winger, yet with his \u201cAmerica First\u201d stance, he advocates a protectionism that Austrian and French socialists<\/a> \u2013 in coalition with trade unions \u2013 champion, for example, in the so-called Posted Workers Directive. In Germany, the AfD\u2019s entry into the Bundestag<\/a> is described as a right-wing shift, even though the party harbours the largest fan base of Vladimir Putin, a former officer of the Soviet secret service KGB, who wishes to restore Russia to its Soviet-era greatness, and for whom the collapse of the USSR ranks among the catastrophes of world history. <\/p>\n

Similarly, in Austria, there is talk of a right-wing shift because the FP\u00d6 and \u00d6VP gained ground in the recent general election<\/a>. The enforcement of rule-of-law standards in the so-called migration crisis can certainly be described as ‘right-wing’ if one equates the term ‘right’ with ‘correct’ and ‘sensible’. For many years, the FP\u00d6 has been actively poaching voters from segments that once voted SP\u00d6<\/a>, and has even referred to itself as a workers’ party. A similar observation can be made about the Front National in France, to which deputies have also defected from the Socialists. Until now, socialism could be described as left-wing with impunity. <\/p>\n

What is Left, What is Right?<\/h5>\n

So, it seems that the assignment of what constitutes left and right is no longer quite so straightforward. Unless, of course, one limits the definition to simply labelling certain parties as right-wing and others as left-wing. <\/p>\n

It was simpler during the Cold War. The left comprised communists, anarchists, and socialists. The ’68 generation also identified as left-wing (many of them as extreme). The right included nationalists, certain authoritarian regimes, military governments, the apartheid regime in South Africa, and, of course, the remaining old Nazis and the emerging neo-Nazis. In the so-called free West, centrist parties governed, occasionally with the added label of left or right. Even then, one could still rely on relatively simple distinctions. The left advocated for the socialisation of the means of production; the right permitted private ownership of the means of production. The left favoured higher taxes and more redistribution; the right championed lower taxes and greater freedom and individual responsibility. <\/p>\n

However, even these criteria are no longer suitable for characterising so-called right-wing and left-wing parties today. So-called right-wingers and left-wingers now demonstrate \u2013 albeit not together \u2013 against capitalism, globalisation, and free trade agreements. What unites them are paternalism and statism<\/a>; some desire it at a national level, others at a European or international level. <\/p>\n

Here, however, lies the true watershed of political directions. On one side are the proponents of an expansive paternalistic welfare state, which regulates and redistributes as many areas of life as possible at the state level. For them, the primacy of politics holds sway. On the other side stand the advocates of personal freedom and responsibility, the autonomy of the family, religious freedom, private property, free economy, etc. For them, the primacy of law and freedom is paramount. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\u00a9

\u00a9 Katharina Schiffl<\/p><\/div>\n

Karl von Habsburg is President of the Paneuropa Movement Austria<\/a> and Vice-President of the Paneuropean Union. This commentary also appears on his website<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Right-wing shift was one of the buzzwords that dominated all news reports about the recent election results. However, the left-right paradigm no longer applies. A commentary by our President, Karl <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":5816,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[727],"tags":[1366,790,733,1374,832,782,1382,1389],"class_list":["post-5815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-analysis","tag-democracy","tag-europe","tag-fpoe","tag-germany","tag-karl-von-habsburg","tag-market","tag-national-council-election-2017","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Malicious Right-Wing Shift - Paneuropa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Malicious Right-Wing Shift - Paneuropa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Right-wing shift was one of the buzzwords that dominated all news reports about the recent election results. However, the left-right paradigm no longer applies. A commentary by our President, Karl\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Paneuropa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-10-27T11:41:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-19T21:45:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Cold_war_europe_military_alliances_map_de-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1165\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philipp Jauernik\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philipp Jauernik\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/en\\\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/en\\\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Philipp Jauernik\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7d5d7b5610c7f3e42bc22d30efe2441f\"},\"headline\":\"The Malicious Right-Wing Shift\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-27T11:41:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-19T21:45:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/en\\\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":604,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/en\\\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/Cold_war_europe_military_alliances_map_de-1.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Analysis\",\"Democracy\",\"Europe\",\"FP\u00d6\",\"Germany\",\"Karl von Habsburg\",\"Market\",\"National Council Election 2017\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/en\\\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/en\\\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Malicious Right-Wing Shift - Paneuropa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/en\\\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/en\\\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/Cold_war_europe_military_alliances_map_de-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-27T11:41:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-10-19T21:45:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7d5d7b5610c7f3e42bc22d30efe2441f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/en\\\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/en\\\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/en\\\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/Cold_war_europe_military_alliances_map_de-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/Cold_war_europe_military_alliances_map_de-1.png\",\"width\":1165,\"height\":1200,\"caption\":\"The Iron Curtain divided Europe for decades. To this day, its unconscious influence persists in many minds. Source: Own map, based on Generic Mapping Tools and ETOPO2, Author: San Jose, 7 October 2006\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/en\\\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Start\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/en\\\/paneuropa\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Malicious Right-Wing Shift\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Paneuropa\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7d5d7b5610c7f3e42bc22d30efe2441f\",\"name\":\"Philipp Jauernik\",\"description\":\"Philipp Jauernik geh\u00f6rt dem Pr\u00e4sidium der Paneuropabewegung \u00d6sterreich seit 2013 an. Einige Jahre lang war er parallel auch Bundesvorsitzender der Paneuropajugend.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pan.thatscommunication.de\\\/en\\\/author\\\/jauernik\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Malicious Right-Wing Shift - Paneuropa","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Malicious Right-Wing Shift - Paneuropa","og_description":"Right-wing shift was one of the buzzwords that dominated all news reports about the recent election results. However, the left-right paradigm no longer applies. A commentary by our President, Karl","og_url":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\/","og_site_name":"Paneuropa","article_published_time":"2017-10-27T11:41:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-10-19T21:45:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1165,"height":1200,"url":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Cold_war_europe_military_alliances_map_de-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Philipp Jauernik","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philipp Jauernik","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\/"},"author":{"name":"Philipp Jauernik","@id":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/7d5d7b5610c7f3e42bc22d30efe2441f"},"headline":"The Malicious Right-Wing Shift","datePublished":"2017-10-27T11:41:31+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-19T21:45:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\/"},"wordCount":604,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Cold_war_europe_military_alliances_map_de-1.png","keywords":["Analysis","Democracy","Europe","FP\u00d6","Germany","Karl von Habsburg","Market","National Council Election 2017"],"articleSection":["Blog"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\/","url":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\/","name":"The Malicious Right-Wing Shift - Paneuropa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Cold_war_europe_military_alliances_map_de-1.png","datePublished":"2017-10-27T11:41:31+00:00","dateModified":"2026-10-19T21:45:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/7d5d7b5610c7f3e42bc22d30efe2441f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Cold_war_europe_military_alliances_map_de-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Cold_war_europe_military_alliances_map_de-1.png","width":1165,"height":1200,"caption":"The Iron Curtain divided Europe for decades. To this day, its unconscious influence persists in many minds. Source: Own map, based on Generic Mapping Tools and ETOPO2, Author: San Jose, 7 October 2006"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/the-malicious-right-wing-shift\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Start","item":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/paneuropa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Malicious Right-Wing Shift"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/","name":"Paneuropa","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/7d5d7b5610c7f3e42bc22d30efe2441f","name":"Philipp Jauernik","description":"Philipp Jauernik geh\u00f6rt dem Pr\u00e4sidium der Paneuropabewegung \u00d6sterreich seit 2013 an. Einige Jahre lang war er parallel auch Bundesvorsitzender der Paneuropajugend.","url":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/author\/jauernik\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pan.thatscommunication.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}