Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

Recently European countries have witnessed attacks on migrants and there are concerns that right-wingers are turning the refugee crisis into an opportunity to fuel the rise of neo-fascists.

The high level of support for anti-migrant US presidential candidate Donald Trump and the growing support for far-right parties in Europe show a certain type of political resonation in the West. With globalization uncontrollable, the West is turning the enormous frustration over its loss of power into conservative politics. This can be elevated into nationalistic or even racist demands and is gaining public ground.  

As non-Western economic powers emerge, it has been a fad in the Western world to talk about the power shift brought by wealth transfer, a synonym for globaphobia. Globalization originated in the Western-led expansion of capital, commerce and technology, which was initially widely welcomed in the West. But the West didn't expect that with globalization, non-Western economies would make social progress and improve their competitiveness. Hence comes a theory of power shifting that is pessimistic about globalization.

This mirrors the West's perception of its own rise. In their mind, one who owns wealth will seek power, and eventually the winner takes all. But the US subprime crisis and the European debt crisis didn't destroy the West's confidence. Back then the power shift was mostly discussed by elites in a bid to arouse the consciousness of Western society to deal with non-Western challenges.

But the profound and lasting economic and social crisis is eating away at the West's remaining confidence. And the last straw to crush it includes terrorism and refugee crisis caused by imbalanced development, faltering foreign policy, religious conflicts and cultural clashes. Challenges that mostly rest on the conflicts of political consciousness and social structure have prompted the West to grow anxious about international disorder and domestic politics.

The concerns may be superfluous if political conservatism is only used to vent populist emotions, and people like Trump and Marine Le Pen return to the middle way. But given the remarks by Western politicians and boisterous public opinion, it's necessary to consider that fascism may revive now.

Xenophobia, anti-establishment and anti-globalization forces have risen and expanded simultaneously in the US and Europe, and are even holding back mainstream parties on many issues. As former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer said, "The political community is not a product of its citizens' commitment to a common constitutional and legal order; instead, as in the 1930s, membership in the nation is derived from common descent and religion." And if translated into policy and actions this discourse may sooner or later go in the direction of ethno-nationalism, racism, and religious war.

Such toxic politics will first erode the foundation of democratic politics that the West has long taken pride in. It will provide a breeding ground for populism if political debate is dominated by emotion rather than rationality, and political principles by identity and race. The West's frustration about and instinctive reaction to globalization is not unusual in recent years. The US and Europe want to set higher standards to safeguard their rule-making privileges in international trade. Europe wants to upgrade its trade protection system to restrict competition from emerging economies. The US and Japan intend to build the Trans-Pacific Partnership and stir up security predicaments to curb connectivity within the Asia-Pacific and the region's links with the outside.

But globalization and interdependence won't disappear because of the West's fear. While globalization brings both huge challenges and opportunities as well as interests, the key is to foster its strengths. Currently many questions are not caused by excessive globalization. They arise because Western policies based on power shifting and geopolitical competition lead to obstacles that stop globalization from fully developing.

The solution lies in more expansive and profound connectivity in the context of deeper interdependence. Dealing with challenges remains the most realistic and effective way to handle globalization. Western politicians have to break down their self-conceived barriers between the West and non-West to get rid of globaphobia. But this takes some patience of us. After all, even a man as wise as Fischer feels frustrated that the West is no longer the geopolitical center.  

The author is director of the Department of European Studies, China Institute of International Studies. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn