Why is extremism on the rise in Europe including Central & Eastern Europe?

In the US and UK there is a lot of talk about the 'left behinds', people who haven't benefited from the last three decades of Neoliberal growth in these countries. I think this has a lot to it but also part of the picture is the failure of left wing parties, whose stated intention is to look after the less well off, to redress the conditions of these people when given their chance in government (13 years of the Labour party in the UK, 16 of the Democrats in the US). Equally, when the parties of the right have been tring to secure votes from swing voters and poorer voters, who are unlikely to benefit from their policies, they have often reverted to talking about immigration, threat of crime, abortion and social reform (gay marriage etc) to win votes, which in many ways has pushed the argument on such social issues ever further to the right with eac succesive election.

It would be unfair to exclude the media from their impsct on cheapening the discourse too. Right wing talk radio has exploded in the US over the last thirty years, being a primary source of news for some voters. Fox News has aso lent credence to some of talk radios most aggressive stars, a well as ideas. The explosion of ideas on the internet has pushed the opinions available ever further, Breitbart leading the charge right, accompanied by huge fringe sites like InfoWars. In the UK the media is more heavily regulated, but the newspapers are heavily skewed to the right and have effectively pushed public opinion on many subjects, particularly Europe. Largely these papers have supported the Conservative party but their attitudes have very much benefited the further right UKIP party, amongst other fringe parties.