As I see the Global Financial Crisis triggered the Fourth Turning for the whole of Europe. Since then it has been crazy, I am going to do a bit of a survey of the major countries in Europe to give you an idea of how the Fourth Turning has affected each major nation. This is going to be over several posts and over a few days at least, because there is a lot I am planning to write.
Right now, in Europe the Silent generation peers have long left politics and Generation 68' (Boomer peers) have peaked in power and the Generation X peers have risen. I am going to allot the major European leaders into their generations to give you an better idea of generational dynamics. European generations are about four years behind North America, since the last Awakening started off with a bang in 1968. Hence the name of the Boomer peers in Europe, the generation of 68'.
Generation 68':
Theresa May – Current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Jeremy Corbyn – Leader of the opposition Labour Party in the United Kingdom.
Angela Merkel – Chancellor of Germany
Viktor Orbán – Prime Minister of Hungary
Geert Wilders – Leader of the anti-Islam Freedom Party in the Netherlands
Vladimir Putin – President of Russia
Francois Hollande and Nicholas Sarkozy former Presidents of France.
Jean-Claude Juncker - current president of the European Commission.
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Mariano Rajoy - former Prime Ministers of Spain who led it during the GFC
Generation X Peers:
Matteo Salvini (Italian deputy Prime Minister, interior minister and leader of the Lega Nord) Emmanuel Macron – Current President of France
David Cameron – Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Marine Le Pen – Leader of the National Rally (formerly: National Front) in France
Pedro Sánchez – Prime Minister of Spain
Alexis Tsipras – Prime Minister of Greece
A couple of British public figures you might be familiar with is activist and Journalist Tommy Robinson (b.1982) and Milo Yiannopoulos (b.1984). Both these men I know to an extent and they are Reactives, although late wave ones.
Millennial: Sebastian Kurz (Austrian Chancellor), Luigi Di Maio (Italian deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Five Star Movement). Both are first wave European Millennials both being born in 1986.
There is a massive struggle currently going on between the Pro-European and Eurospetic parties across the European Union. Brexit is only one manifestation of it and the Eurosceptic are far from united. The hard variety are like the UK Independence Party who out of the EU completely, while the "soft" variety (which Viktor Orban is an example) is an example prefer to reform it and give more powers to the individual member states especially over areas such as immigration.
The "soft" variety of Eurospceptic dominates in the relatively poorer Eastern and Southern European countries, while the "hard" variety dominates in wealthier Western Europe countries. Ireland is a exception to this general rule, the voting public there is pro-European Union in contrast with the Eurosceptic United Kingdom.
The whole migrant crisis I believe has been that moment that the Fourth Turning has crystallized, and the issue will be the future of the European Union. There is a reasonable chance that the European Union will collapse, however I believe the Millennials in the European Union could very well be for 'European project' (they certainly are in the United Kingdom). While the older generations (especially X'er peers) that are driving a lot of opposition to the European Union. The migrant crisis which was triggered by the wars in Libya and Syria have seen hundreds of thousands of migrants crossing into Europe and fueling the rise of populist, Eurosceptic and anti-immigration parties.
Also, since a large proportion of these immigrants are Muslims, there has been rising anti-Muslim sentiment across Europe. This sentiment has been helped by the Muslim populations in Western European countries mostly living in ethnic enclaves in the cities, being not very well integrated into the broader societies even for the second and third generation and a large proportion subsiding off government benefits.
This sense of alienation from the general society groups among the Millennial peers in the Muslim communities in Europe has been fertile ground for Islamist groups which have been behind committed terrorist acts in many Western European countries. These attacks have further fueled these populist, Eurosceptic nationalist parties which have anti-Muslim views.
Given what I have described above what has happened Western Europe with the Muslim immigrant countries. The countries of Eastern Europe such Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary have refused to accept any Muslim immigrants or agree to “asylum seeker” distribution among the member nations as proposed by the European Union. I believe it is because of fears that if large Muslim immigrant populations were established in their nations, the same could happen to them.
The GFC and the migrant crisis have also meant in a rise in authoritarianism across the continent with Liberal Democracy under serious threat or already have disappeared in some European Union nations. Hungary for example under the rule of Viktor Orban’s government is a illiberal democracy. It is also notable for a very hard-line attitude against any Muslim migration and build a fence inside it's border during the migrant crisis to keep Muslim immigrants out.
Right now, in Europe the Silent generation peers have long left politics and Generation 68' (Boomer peers) have peaked in power and the Generation X peers have risen. I am going to allot the major European leaders into their generations to give you an better idea of generational dynamics. European generations are about four years behind North America, since the last Awakening started off with a bang in 1968. Hence the name of the Boomer peers in Europe, the generation of 68'.
Generation 68':
Theresa May – Current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Jeremy Corbyn – Leader of the opposition Labour Party in the United Kingdom.
Angela Merkel – Chancellor of Germany
Viktor Orbán – Prime Minister of Hungary
Geert Wilders – Leader of the anti-Islam Freedom Party in the Netherlands
Vladimir Putin – President of Russia
Francois Hollande and Nicholas Sarkozy former Presidents of France.
Jean-Claude Juncker - current president of the European Commission.
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and Mariano Rajoy - former Prime Ministers of Spain who led it during the GFC
Generation X Peers:
Matteo Salvini (Italian deputy Prime Minister, interior minister and leader of the Lega Nord) Emmanuel Macron – Current President of France
David Cameron – Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Marine Le Pen – Leader of the National Rally (formerly: National Front) in France
Pedro Sánchez – Prime Minister of Spain
Alexis Tsipras – Prime Minister of Greece
A couple of British public figures you might be familiar with is activist and Journalist Tommy Robinson (b.1982) and Milo Yiannopoulos (b.1984). Both these men I know to an extent and they are Reactives, although late wave ones.
Millennial: Sebastian Kurz (Austrian Chancellor), Luigi Di Maio (Italian deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Five Star Movement). Both are first wave European Millennials both being born in 1986.
There is a massive struggle currently going on between the Pro-European and Eurospetic parties across the European Union. Brexit is only one manifestation of it and the Eurosceptic are far from united. The hard variety are like the UK Independence Party who out of the EU completely, while the "soft" variety (which Viktor Orban is an example) is an example prefer to reform it and give more powers to the individual member states especially over areas such as immigration.
The "soft" variety of Eurospceptic dominates in the relatively poorer Eastern and Southern European countries, while the "hard" variety dominates in wealthier Western Europe countries. Ireland is a exception to this general rule, the voting public there is pro-European Union in contrast with the Eurosceptic United Kingdom.
The whole migrant crisis I believe has been that moment that the Fourth Turning has crystallized, and the issue will be the future of the European Union. There is a reasonable chance that the European Union will collapse, however I believe the Millennials in the European Union could very well be for 'European project' (they certainly are in the United Kingdom). While the older generations (especially X'er peers) that are driving a lot of opposition to the European Union. The migrant crisis which was triggered by the wars in Libya and Syria have seen hundreds of thousands of migrants crossing into Europe and fueling the rise of populist, Eurosceptic and anti-immigration parties.
Also, since a large proportion of these immigrants are Muslims, there has been rising anti-Muslim sentiment across Europe. This sentiment has been helped by the Muslim populations in Western European countries mostly living in ethnic enclaves in the cities, being not very well integrated into the broader societies even for the second and third generation and a large proportion subsiding off government benefits.
This sense of alienation from the general society groups among the Millennial peers in the Muslim communities in Europe has been fertile ground for Islamist groups which have been behind committed terrorist acts in many Western European countries. These attacks have further fueled these populist, Eurosceptic nationalist parties which have anti-Muslim views.
Given what I have described above what has happened Western Europe with the Muslim immigrant countries. The countries of Eastern Europe such Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary have refused to accept any Muslim immigrants or agree to “asylum seeker” distribution among the member nations as proposed by the European Union. I believe it is because of fears that if large Muslim immigrant populations were established in their nations, the same could happen to them.
The GFC and the migrant crisis have also meant in a rise in authoritarianism across the continent with Liberal Democracy under serious threat or already have disappeared in some European Union nations. Hungary for example under the rule of Viktor Orban’s government is a illiberal democracy. It is also notable for a very hard-line attitude against any Muslim migration and build a fence inside it's border during the migrant crisis to keep Muslim immigrants out.