International Relations

C16(b) - Right Wing Politics and International Relations

Date: Jun 4 | Time: 08:30am to 10:00am | Location: FSS 4012

Chair/Président/Présidente : Marc Doucet (St. Mary's University)

Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Marc Doucet (St. Mary's University)

Right-wing Leaders, Discourse of Glorious Past and Irredentist Regional Policies: Sagheer Ahmad Khan (Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan)
Abstract: Putin justified Russia’s invasion of Ukraine through irredentist claims linked to the “glorious past” of the Russian Empire. China, under Xi Jinping, has shifted from a conciliatory approach to a more assertive stance, seeking to revive the glory of the “Middle Kingdom” through a more forceful implementation of the One China Policy. Similarly, right-wing leadership in India—invoking the idea of *Vishwaguru*—has employed rhetoric supporting territorial claims beyond its de facto borders. Turkey, under Erdoğan, has likewise accelerated its efforts to achieve a greater regional role reminiscent of the Ottoman Empire. Israel’s recent expansion of Jewish settlements and its indiscriminate use of force in Gaza are also premised on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s invocation of a perceived “glorious past.” Why has the discourse of a “glorious past” now become an inspiration for right-wing leaders pursuing regional dominance? It is argued that leaders operate under the influence of prevailing discourses. The relative decline of the United States, coupled with its disengagement from global affairs after the fatigue of prolonged wars on terror, created a global power vacuum. Within the framework of the post–Cold War liberal world order, class-based narratives had already subsided, allowing the religious-civilizational discourse—an extension of the “war on terror” narrative—to emerge as the only available alternative to capture the moment. The power vacuum and the ensuing discourse prompted right-wing leaders to pursue the restoration of their perceived “old glory.”

Trumpism, Reactionary Sports Politics, and the Global Right Wing: Aaron Ettinger (Carleton University)
Abstract: Scholars have long recognized that the soft power of sports is just a continuation of politics by other means. Typically, sports diplomacy is positively associated with liberal forms of soft power and cultural exchange, while “sportswashing” is associated with reputation laundering by disingenuous actors. This paper presents a third option: waging reactionary culture wars on the global stage. This research article analyzes the political use of sports as part of the radical right-wing insurgency against liberalism and the liberal international order. It focuses on US President Donald Trump whose political insurgency is being waged across many cultural fronts, policy areas, and institutions. More specifically, it addresses Trump’s co-optation of sports politics and narratives to undermine the domestic liberal political order and wage legal battles and culture wars against transgender athletes and Black protest movements. Of course, nothing in America stays in America. Trumpism informs the global assemblage of radical right-wing actors, which include political parties, transnational activist movements, norm entrepreneurs/antipreneurs, and athletes. Thus, sports are a crucial front in the radical right-wing insurgency against the liberal international order. Ultimately, the “soft power” of sports does not accrue to the advantage of the United States as a country, but rather to the radical political movement currently in power, and its allies around the world.

Understanding Anti-Feminist Opposition in Global Governance: Andrea Collins (University of Waterloo)
Abstract: In 2023, conservative states in the United Nations’ Committee for World Food Security (CFS) resisted the adoption of accurate language on gender during negotiations. This led to the erasure of gender-diverse and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex and Asexual (LGBTIA+) people and the substitution of gender for sex in the final text of The Voluntary Guidelines on Gender Equality and Women’s and Girl’s Empowerment that were adopted by the CFS (CSIPM 2023). The success of anti-feminist advocacy in this space is evident through the revision of texts that inaccurately conflate sex and gender and do not acknowledge gender-based violence in food systems. These are not just policy disagreements, but rather an exercise of power against evidence-based social science on sex, gender and inequality. The pushback from state actors against feminist language on intersectionality and gender in this forum are consistent with broader trends of anti-feminist backlash in global institutions. This raises new questions about the rising influence of transnational conservative and/or anti-feminist coalitions in global food and agriculture governance; how other states, movements and institutions are responding; and the potential threats to international liberal rights-based norms. This paper reviews the emerging research examining anti-feminist movements within the United Nations and global governance more broadly. The paper compares these findings with the emerging patterns of opposition in the UN CFS and charts a path forward for analysis of anti-feminist and anti-gender movements in the UN CFS and UN food agencies (FAO, IFAD, WFP).