Dérive au droite

Dérive au droite (French for "drift on the right") is a term used to describe a phenomenon of radicalisation among Gylian right-wing parties in the late 1980s. It mainly affected non-inscrit "molehill parties", and caused many of them to be shut down for anti-constitutional activities.

Background

The crises of the wretched decade and conflictual character of the Aén Ďanez government caused a growth in support for the far-right FROS and right-wing populist single issue parties in local and federal elections. While these never gained enough votes and seats to seriously threaten mainstream electoral blocs, the threat of their emergence as a disruptive force caused alarm in politics.

The hung parliament returned by the 1985 federal election caused a year-long paralysis in federal politics, as no blocs managed to form a coalition, and initial attempts at a grand coalition were unsuccessful. The Ossorian war crisis of 1986 galvanised the opposition, and a grand coalition was formed in the Filomena Pinheiro government.

The formation of the government put the right-wing parties in a difficult position. "Molehill parties" PFF and AFP abstained on the confidence vote, while the PFG and PP tried to join the government to push for right-wing policies, but were excluded from the cabinet.

The drift and its repercussions

International factors contributed to the dérive. Linkages formed between Gylian right-wing parties and the forces involved in the neoliberal conspiracy in Akashi, Megelan, and Nordkrusen. The influence of these contacts and frustration with exclusion from the government caused the parties' rhetoric and profile to harden during 1986–1988, at a time when Filomena's government focused on a cordon sanitaire against the FROS and RR.

While the "molehill parties" took an increasingly hardline stance, the PFG and PP developed closer ties with the FEP and IFP. This gave rise to a neoliberal–right-libertarian faction in the NB, causing conflicts within the bloc.

Prosecution and investigations succeeded in whittling down the RR and FROS' presence in Parliament, although vote redistributions also brought additional seats to the right-wing. The death of NB leader Lea Kersed in 1988 worsened tension within the NB, while Filomena unofficially broadened the cordon sanitaire to encompass "molehill parties" as well.

The increasingly confrontational course brought matters to a head in 1988–1990. The Directorate for Protection of the Constitution began judicial proceedings against the PFF and AFP for anti-constitutional activities. The parties had increasingly approached the FROS, and the AFP's increasingly vitriolic hatred of the GP was exposed by investigation.

The NB parties' conference of 1989 saw a showdown between the mainstream progressives and the neoliberals. The FEP and IFP left the NB to form the UFP bloc with the PFG and PP. Their place within the NB was taken by the UND and MRR.

Aftermath

The right-wing parties having been marginal during the wretched decade, the public opprobrium caused by the UFP's splinter and Akashi's neoliberal conspiracy destroyed their chances at political success. Media scrutiny revealed the drift towards extremism within the "molehill parties", causing their shutdown.

The dérive ended internal tensions within the NB, and strengthened their hostility towards more right-wing forces. The NB parties adopted official policies to never collaborate with the UFP in any legislature, policies that remain in place.

The phenomenon was one of the last notable challenges to the Gylian consensus in the aftermath of the wretched decade. The success of the cordon sanitaire and federal government's proactive stance effectively removed the threat of right-wing populism, as the crackdown on the RR and FROS had with authoritarian socialism and far-right politics.

The UI unexpectedly benefited from the dérive: its vote in support of the Filomena government raised its stock in the public eye, and it experienced an increase in support and seats at subsequent elections.

The experience of the dérive did not put an end to "molehill parties": the CRFP and PCF formed in respose to Mathilde Vieira government policies. However, the parties made an outward show of disavowing extremism and tempering their rhetoric, even if their alignment with the UFP destroyed their chance to be more than protest parties. Their use of right-wing populist themes eventually caused a similar radicalising drift and made them targets for FROS entryism, leading to their dissolution in the 2000s.