It comes during an increase in support for the far-right in France, as well as in a number of other European countries such as Italy, Germany, Austria and Hungary.
With other countries such as India, the Philippines and Japan also moving to the political right in recent years, populism isn't only confined to Europe.
"Wherever you see deep cultural splits and economic splits, especially when they overlap geographically, you're going to have basis for populist movements," William Galston, Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, and a former policy adviser to Bill Clinton, told SBS News.
Europe’s centre-left, he says, has collapsed.
“There is some energy on the hard left, but in the centre-left, the traditional social democratic left, there has been a dramatic erosion of support,” he said.
“This is largely because the working class voters who used to form the base of centre-left parties have deserted those parties for the right.”
Mr Galston said that is largely down to one thing.
"There are a lot of places or regions in most European countries that have been left behind economically, if not left out entirely.”
“A lot has to do with an emerging split between the cities that are doing reasonably well, as opposed to the small towns in rural areas in most European countries that are not. Many of the populist parties play on those regional resentments."
The political climate created by the immigration crisis, too, is equally, if not more important he says.
"The surge of immigrants and refugees from the Middle East and also from sub-Saharan Africa, has created a really explosive political situation. Mainstream European leaders .. have not handled the problem especially effectively and people are in open revolt against what they see is ineffective governance to protect their borders."
Silvio Berluconi's (second from left) Forza Italia party is one of many right wing parties in Europe gaining popularity. Source: Facebook
A rebrand
It comes as Marine Le Pen, leader of the French far-right National Front party, proposed the party should rename itself to shed a brand many associate with racism and anti-Semitism.
Since taking over party presidency in 2011, Ms Le Pen has worked to broaden the party's appeal by erasing the footprint of her father, who has multiple convictions for racism and anti-Semitism.
"I will propose to you then that National Front becomes National Rally,” she said at the party's two-day congress in Lille.
Ms Le Pen said the current name serves as a psychological barrier for potential new members and voters.
“This name must not just be a project. It must be a rallying cry, a call to join us, launched to those who, like us, have France in their hearts, a call to all the French people, all those who come, those who are going to write a page of our country's history, along with us," she said.
Marine Le Pen says she is trying to clean up the National Front party's image. Source: AAP
Former White House advisor Steve Bannon, seen by many as the architect behind Donald Trump's ascent to the presidency, spoke at the National Front summit at the request of Ms Le Pen.
“Let [people] call you racist. Let them call you xenophobes. Wear it as a badge of honour," Mr Bannon said.
The former Breitbart News chairman was an early admirer of the National Front, whose long-standing "French First" motto rallied French voters for years before Mr Trump's "America First" campaign.
"With Marine Le Pen and Front National, and our beloved president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, we're now in the business of maximising citizenship value. Our populist nationalist movement in the US is maybe 10, 15 years old. We are here to learn from you,” Mr Bannon said.
Ms Le Pen was thought to be in contention for the French presidency last year, though she ultimately lost to Emmanuel Macron’s centrist La République En March party.
Bannon ‘one of the great geniuses’
Mr Bannon, who is currently on a European tour, has received plaudits from a number of the continent’s populist leaders and thinkers.
Before arriving in France, Mr Bannon was in Switzerland and Italy - where last week voters abandoned establishment parties and opted for a hung Parliament dominated by anti-immigrant populists.
Benjamin Harnwell, founder of the conservative research centre 'Dignitas Humani' based in the Italian capital, Rome, thinks Mr Bannon is at the forefront of the populist revival.
Police block demonstrators protesting against the nationalist 'Alternative for Germany', AfD, party in Berlin. Source: AAP
“My evaluation is that [he] is one of the great geniuses, the intuitive geniuses, of the 21st century in his perception of how tectonic plates of conventional politics are changing," Mr Harnwell told the BBC.
“His fundamental insights are directly relevant to what is going on in [Europe].”
William Galston says that while populist movements make a lasting impression on the world the real test comes when they come to govern.
A Hungarian camerawoman, center left in blue, kicks out at a young migrant who had just crossed the border from Serbia near Roszke Hungary. Sept 2015 Source: AAP
"It is possible,” Mr Galston said.
“But to the extent that the right actually has to take responsibility for governing, then they cease to be a protest movement. They will have to deliver results. That's not so simple. As long as they're in the minority, the opposition, looking inside from the out, then I think they will remain strong."
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