From Putin to Le Pen: Is Europe's drift to the right inevitable? 

A cause for optimism for the left is that the lack of public services in rural areas, deindustrialisation, unequal access to property and widening inequality are all issues that can be addressed by implementing adequate policies

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with French presidential election candidate for the far-right Front National Party Marine Le Pen at the Kremlin in Moscow in 2017. Picture: Mikhail Klimentyev/AFP via Getty Images

Across Europe, from Italy to Hungary through Finland and Greece, the far right is rising in the polls, governments are shifting right and the left is collapsing. Are we entering a new political era, and can the left ever return to power? In other words, is the rightward drift inevitable?

We examined historical voting data going back to the French Revolution — and the findings, contained in our new book, offer a more optimistic view of what may happen in the coming years.