Vox y su Agenda España en la crisis del globalismo

This article analyses the critical position adopted by the Spanish political party Vox towards the United Nations 2030 Agenda, placing this reaction in the broader context of the crisis of neoliberal globalisation and contemporary geopolitical tension. Starting from the hypothesis that Vox’s rejection of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) embodies a response to the structural erosion of historical capitalist hegemony and the progressive loss of national autonomy of European nations in the face of supranational institutions, the study interprets this antagonism not as a mere ideological reaction but as the manifestation of a new conservative articulation of power. The paper interrogates Vox’s counter-hegemonic vision of the globalist project represented by the 2030 Agenda under the parameters of the so-called cultural battle, where moral, religious, and national values become central political instruments. The article's main objective is to demonstrate that Vox’s critique of the 2030 Agenda is not only reactive but also programmatic; an attempt to build an alternative nationalist project based on traditional Western values rooted in Judeo-Christianity and the mobilisation of its symbols. In this way, the party politicises religion as a unifying element capable of redefining belonging in an age marked by transnational interdependence. Vox denounces key components of the Agenda, particularly those related to gender equality, migration, climate change, and international cooperation policies, portraying them as manifestations of a globalist totalitarianism that undermines identity, sovereignty, and economic growth. The research question focuses on the discursive and strategic mechanisms by which Vox deploys its conservative agenda and the social alliances that sustain it. The analysis adopts a Critical Contemporary World Politics approach, which questions the dominant narratives of the international system and emphasises the asymmetric relations between the Global North and South. The methodology is framed in the neo-Gramscian tradition: following Cox (1983), hegemony is understood as the dynamic balance between material capabilities (economic power, financial institutions), ideas (legitimising discourses), and institutions (the organisational expression of power). This framework allows the article to explore how transnational neoliberalism (originally hegemonic) faces resistance from new political actors that resignify the notion of sovereignty and community. From this perspective, the analysis incorporates Robinson’s (2021) interpretation of transnational social blocs as coalitions that maintain or contest global capitalist domination, and it draws on dependency theory (dos Santos, 1978; Amin, 1973) to situate Europe’s internal peripheries, including Spain, within the unequal geography of neoliberal development. The theoretical scaffolding thus links the rise of Vox to the exhaustion of globalisation’s promises and to the crisis of representation that has fragmented traditional party systems in the post-2008 era. Methodologically, the study relies on qualitative coding of Vox’s official documents, particularly Agenda España (2021), speeches by Santiago Abascal, and parliamentary interventions. This is complemented by a critical review of specialised literature and comparative analysis with EU political discourses. The structure is divided into four main sections: conceptual framework, geopolitical tensions, the Vox project, and conclusions. The first section revisits classical and contemporary theories on interest groups and elite formations. Building on Deutsch’s (1968) definition of groups as networks of coordinated collective action, the article introduces Gramsci’s (1999) notion of the historic bloc and Putnam’s (1988) two-level game, showing how transnational elites shape both global agendas and domestic policy alignments. Examples such as the negotiation of free trade agreements (Transatlantic Trade and Investment, TTIP, Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA) illustrate how neoliberal consensus is maintained through a combination of institutional coercion and cultural consent. David Harvey’s (2005) critique of speculative neoliberalism adds a further dimension, underlining how financialization reproduces inequality and constrains the capacity of Southern states to negotiate favourable conditions. These dynamics set the backdrop for the backlash against globalist governance, of which Vox is a European expression. The second section focuses on the 2030 Agenda and its seventeen SDGs, paying special attention to the spheres where friction between North and South is most acute: climate finance, technology transfer, and official development assistance. The text examines Southern claims of historical responsibility for emissions and demands for more substantial commitments from developed economies. Within this debate, far-right critiques, including those articulated by Vox, accuse the Agenda of inefficiency, corruption, and ideological bias, particularly regarding gender and LGBTIQ+ policies. The SDGs thus become not only a framework for sustainability but also a symbolic battlefield in which diverse actors contest the moral and economic meaning of development. The third section constitutes the analytical core. After briefly tracing the legacy of the Franco regime, the post-transition two-party system, and the emergence of anti-establishment mobilisations such as 15-M, the article situates Vox’s creation in 2013 as both a reaction against the Partido Popular’s centrism and a symptom of broader social disaffection. Through a detailed analysis of Agenda España, the paper identifies twenty objectives that intentionally mirror and invert the SDGs in an identitarian, protectionist, and conservative key. Goals concerning family policy, migration control, sovereignty vis-à-vis the European Union, and the construction of an Iberosphere exemplify this reappropriation. Quotations from Abascal’s speeches emphasise the defence of freedom, natural order, and biological truth, deploying a moralised narrative of collective vulnerability: the Spanish nation, once hegemonic, is now portrayed as besieged by globalist elites, Islamist migration, and woke minorities. From a neo-Gramscian angle, Vox’s discourse seeks to create a new historical bloc, uniting small business owners, conservative bureaucracies, rural producers, and segments of the working class under the banner of Catholic nationalism. This coalition, legitimised by the language of common sense and tradition, aspires to reconfigure the ideological field in Europe’s periphery. The rhetorical opposition between globalists and patriots functions as a moral dichotomy that simplifies complex structural contradictions, transforming economic dependency into a question of cultural sovereignty. The conclusion argues that Vox’s strategy transcends mere reaction. It represents an alternative hegemonic project, one that reinterprets the crisis of neoliberal globalisation through a cultural-religious lens. By aligning itself with other right-wing movements in Europe and Latin America, from Fratelli d’Italia to Bolsonarism, Vox contributes to a transnational network of conservative resistance that contests the normative order of global governance. The attempt to fuse economic nationalism with moral traditionalism reflects a shift from neoliberal globalism toward a civilisational politics, where values and identity replace productivity and efficiency as sources of legitimacy. Ultimately, the article reveals how Vox’s discourse appropriates the language of sustainability and development to justify an exclusionary nationalism. By framing its pro-family and pro-development narratives within Judeo-Christian ethics, the party seeks to naturalise inequality and preserve hierarchies while claiming moral superiority. This ideological inversion exemplifies what Gramsci described as a passive revolution: a change in rhetoric that preserves the underlying structures of domination. The article provides a novel reading by integrating the neo-Gramscian perspective with the empirical analysis of party documents and dependency theory, revealing the dialectic through which conservative actors appropriate elements of sustainability to legitimise their political positions, often leaving the frontal attack to try to reinterpret concepts, as in the case of feminism. By showing that Vox deploys an apparently pro-development and pro-family discourse to pursue a nationalist agenda, the study invites us to rethink the notion of progress in contemporary politics and offers a useful conceptual framework for understanding resistance to globalism in Spain and the global South.