Most countries in Europe are governed by state managers; there are praiseworthy exceptions, foremost among them Viktor Orbán in Hungary who stands out as the most prominent among European leaders with vision and ideals. By definition, state managers have no vision for the future. They often represent diametrically opposed political platforms and ideals. However, in the name of preserving their coalition, they bury or even abandon their ideals. They try their best to stay united around the fact that they all abhor patriotism, nationalism, and national conservatism. The prime minister becomes the bureaucrat-in-chief whose duty it is to pour political glue into the coalition’s cracks of dissent. It becomes his job to preserve a parliamentary and political status quo.
The political establishment, embodied in visionless elected officials, has formed governments in countries like Austria, Germany, France, Belgium, and Spain—not to mention the EU itself. Their plan for the static management of state affairs is deliberate—it is purposely void of visions and leadership. The reason is deliberate. Those who govern as managers, not leaders, do so with coalitions across ideological dividing lines because they want to prevent a clearly identified common adversary from gaining more influence, let alone political power. And that common adversary is a nationalist or national conservative party.
