CONNECTIONS BETWEEN FOREIGN POLICY AND DOMESTIC POLICY IN FAR-RIGHT ADMINISTRATIONS

Abstract

This piece investigates how foreign policy interacts with domestic politics in today's far-right governments, specifically looking at the United States, Brazil, Hungary, and Argentina. It contends that, in contrast to the liberal diplomatic tradition, these administrations turn foreign policy into a continuation of domestic culture wars, employing it for the purposes of internal legitimization, rallying their base, confronting symbolic foes, and undermining the international liberal order. These governments cultivate a militant and ideological foreign policy agenda that is rooted in ultranationalist principles, conspiracy theories, and a narrative of national exceptionalism, as revealed through a theoretical review and documentary analysis of scholars like Levitsky, Ziblatt, Lynch, Sanahuja, Graham, and Brown. Contemporary far-right regimes, the study concludes, project their domestic agendas internationally, thereby undermining multilateral institutions, diminishing global cooperation, and promoting democratic backsliding on a transnational scale.