Global Leaders in Equality? Political Representation and the Paradoxes of Backlash Politics in Advanced Democracies

Recent developments that can be characterized as part of “backlash” politics resonate similarly across diverse national contexts. In this paper, we draw upon ongoing comparative research in Canada, Sweden and the UK to analyze convergences and divergences in backlash politics and their implications for the representation of marginalized groups. These are three countries ostensibly committed to advancing equality along the lines of gender, race and sexuality, and are, in different ways, heralded as global leaders in these processes: Sweden is often considered especially advanced in terms of gender equality; Canada the most advanced in relation to multiculturalism; and the UK is notable for its unique modern equality legislation and enforcement spanning multiple inequalities. Drawing on extensive interviews capturing the perspectives and insights of anti-racist feminist civil society representatives, we explore both challenges and opportunities encountered by these actors, and present lessons which might serve as warnings and offer mobilization strategies of resistance, as well as informing future democratic design. As far right backlash against equalities becomes increasingly ubiquitous, we show that even in these three ‘best case’ countries, heralded as global leaders in equality, similar patterns of backlash can be observed to varying degrees. These include recent restrictions on rights of transgender people and women in particular; increasingly bold racist anti-migrant discourse resulting in new restrictions on existing and potential migrants; and not only a gutting of government resourcing for equality, but the deployment of equalities architectures to reinforce inequalities among marginalised groups. We show how this hinders the possibility of anti racist feminist claims-making and the representation of intersectionality marginalised groups. Furthermore, we consider whether it is precisely because these countries have been considered leaders in advancing equality that backlash politics are currently so prevalent. Do political discourses in these contexts around restrictions in rights and removal of supports for equality reference ideas that there is already “too much” equality, and for whom?