 Such high standards declined during the 1980s, as a result of economic stagnation; it was in this decade that the number of Libyan defectors increased.Gaddafi claimed that his "Jamahiriya" was a "concrete utopia", and that he had been appointed by "popular assent", with some Islamic supporters believing that he exhibited "barakah".His opposition to Western governments earned him the respect of many in the Euro-American far right, with the UK-based National Front, for instance, embracing aspects of the Third International Theory during the 1980s.