Why Is the World Tilting Right?

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Join us in Sydney on February 12, as historian Simon Heffer and CIS Executive Director Tom Switzer discuss the recent conservative shift in Western politics, and its implications for economic policies and cultural trends.

For more than a decade, progressives shaped Western public discourse and institutionalised what its critics call a woke mentality, with its guilt-tripping about Western cultural heritage, its obsession with diversity, equity and inclusion, and its penchant for cancelling unfashionable (conservative, classical liberal) opinions. As with all identity politics, the objective was to make the majority feel ashamed of itself.

In recent times, however, a conservative tide is travelling around the western world. The US has caught the wave, as have Italy, Germany and Canada. European centrists are floundering in the face of centre-right and populist right-wing parties. British Labour is sinking in the polls. In late 2023, New Zealand voters kicked out a government and a cause heralded by global progressives while Australians resoundingly rejected a referendum that would have added racial identity to the nation’s constitution.

How do we account for the changing political climate? Does this rightwards shift suggest that the progressive moment in global politics is over? And what are the likely consequences for the economic policy debates and cultural direction of the West?

Simon Heffer, columnist for The Telegraph and professor of modern British history at the University of Buckingham, is the author of High Minds, The Age of Decadence, and his latest book, Scarcely English: An A to Z of Assaults on Our Language (December 2024).

Tom Switzer is Executive Director of CIS. He formerly hosted ABC’s Between the Lines and held editorial roles at The Spectator Australia and The Australian.