Rise of the Far Right parties in Europe: from Nationalism to Euroscepticism (original) (raw)
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Examining the Social Basis of the Far-right Parties in Europe
University of Tehran, 2017
Far-right parties have been increasingly spreading throughout Europe since 1980s; they have attracted the attention of many voters, especially the youth and the workers by campaigning against immigration and multiculturalism. Through an anti-establishment approach, these parties have become mainly mistrustful of the mainstream politics articulating themselves as the true voice of the people and the only alternative to the status quo; the far-right parties have been able to distance themselve from traditional fascism and adopt a populist approach and have become a rising forcein many European countries. The current paper aims to explore the status of far-right parties in European countries; it studies both the electoral victory of this movement and its consequences, and compares the condition of these parties across the European countries. Finally, the social status of far-right parties will be examined together with demographic variables of age, gender, social class and education.
This paper focuses on the far right with emphasis on summing up some of its more widespread definitions, evaluating the reasons for classifying it as a distinctive family of parties, and comparing of the Western European and (post-Communist) Central European far right. The text presents the theories of Piero Ignazi, Hans-Georg Betz, Cas Mudde, and other authors. The best working definition of the contemporary far right may be the four-element combination of nationalism, xenophobia, law and order, and welfare chauvinism proposed for the Western European environment by Cas Mudde. This concept allows for a basic ideological classification within a unified party family, despite the heterogeneity of the far right parties. Comparison of Central European far right parties with those of Western Europe shows that these four elements are present in Central Europe as well, though in a somewhat modified form, despite differing political, economic, and social influences. populist, right-authoritarian, or new radical right. The themes that these parties have used to define themselves included criticism of immigration from the Third World, the ideas of multiculturalism, corruption among the traditional political elites and their inability to solve the problems of regular citizens, excessive tax burden, over-regulation by the state, and deepening of European integration. These have been closely accompanied by nationalism and moral traditionalism. However, individual parties have varied significantly in the emphasis placed on individual themes. These variations were magnified by organizational amorphousness related to the parties' presentation of themselves as movement-parties (Kitschelt 2006: 286).
Taking Advantage: Far-Right Parties in Post-Maastricht Europe
2001
Over the past several decades far-right political parties have emerged in several political systems in Western Europe. Though these parties exhibit variations in terms of both issue positions and electoral support, they share common cause on the issues of immigration and resistance to European integration. We examine the factors that influence the success of far-right parties in nine systems where they have received support. Using a random-effects model of election results from 1979-1999, we find that far-right parties have benefited from high levels of unemployment and that the post-Maastricht squeeze on budget deficits has contributed to increased vote shares for far-right parties. Surprisingly, we find no support for the role of immigration on far-right party success.
Open Political Science
The paper looks at the political party scene in Visegrad countries before and after the influx of refugees and compares how much the negative reactions were instrumentalised not only by the extremist and radical right parties but by the newly emerged populist formations as well as the well-established mainstream parties across the whole political spectra. Until the “migration crisis”, the far right parties focused mainly on Roma issue, anti-Semitism, anti-communism, anti-establishment and used anti-NATO, anti-EU, anti-German, anti-Czech, anti-Slovak or anti-Hungarian card. Since 2015, the parties re-oriented against immigrants, more precisely against the Muslims presenting them as a threat and also increased their criticism on the EU. However, the mainstream parties also accepted far right topics and actively promoted them. The result is then mainstreaming of xenophobia, nationalism and marginalization of far right parties as their flexible voters move to the populist subjects.
Contemporary Far-Right Racist Populism in Europe
Journal of Intercultural Studies, 2016
A spectre is haunting Europe. Not for the first time, right-wing racist movements are on the march across that continent, with parliamentary beachheads in a number of nations, as well, of course, as the possibly disintegrating European parliament. These troubling processes were under way when this special issue was planned in 2014, arising from a session, on right-wing racist populism, of the Research Committee on Racism, Nationalism and Ethnic Relations (RC05) of the International Sociological Association at its congress in Yokohama. The session had been proposed in 2012, and already the signs were there that nationalist, anti-immigrant and Islamophobic movements and political parties were on the rise, from the upsurge of Golden Dawn in economic crisis-ridden Greece, to the arrival of English Defence League (EDL) thugs on British streets. As yet then, Brexit was inconceivable, however, and indeed it failed to be conceived by the British elite until they were surprised by the 2016 referendum and the effectiveness of its antiimmigration campaign. The crisis of refugees fleeing from war in Syria and other devastation from the Arab Winter had not been imaginedat least not in the scale that eventuated, with its impact and reaction in Europe. We are currently confronted by all of these realities; can we make sociological sense of the bigger picture? The EDL, the mainstreaming of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) that claimed victory in the Brexit vote, the rehabilitation and popularity of the National Front in France, the advent of Alternative für Deutschland (AfDwhich has, as we write, just won the second-largest party share of the vote in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election), the 'protest' phenomenon of Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the Occident (PEGIDA) in Germany (and somewhat beyond), the continued interventions of the Party for Freedom (PVV) in the Netherlands and their gains in the national and European parliaments, the very close-run Austrian presidential election in 2016 (to be rerun in October) with far-right-wing populist Austrian Freedom Party candidate, Norbert Hofer, gaining almost 50 per cent of the vote, in Sweden the rise in support for the far-right populist anti-immigration party the Swedish Democrats, and in Greece the popular and electoral surge of the aforementioned Golden Dawn: this is by no means a comprehensive listing, even for Europe. Nor is the growth of right-wing populist, nationalist, anti-immigration, anti-asylum seeker, anti-Muslim politics confined to Europe. Donald Trump's phenomenal
The recent rise of the far-right in Europe has been manifested in different fields that create crucial challenges for maintaining peace and stability in Europe. The first, concerns the increasing votes for far-right parties in various local, national and European Parliament elections. Secondly, there has been rise in far-right organizations and far-right violence. Thirdly, there has been normalization of far-right discourse in European politics. This article focuses on different manifestations of the rise of the far-right in Germany and Austria and the underlying reasons. Specifically, it compares the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and Germany's National Democratic Party (NPD) in terms of their party programs, discourse and electoral success.
Extreme right parties in Europe today: definition and electoral performance
REVISTA ESTUDOS POLÍTICOS, 2018
Since the 1980's, many European countries known for their consolidated democratic systems, have experienced the unexpected electoral emergence of so-called extreme right or populist radical right parties. With the development of recent elections in the Netherlands, France, Germany and Austria, extreme right parties such as the Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV), the French National Front (FN), the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the Freedom Party of Austria (FPO) have attracted attention both from the media and in academic investigation, because of their radical and populist appeals, as well as their relevant electoral results. What do these parties have in common? Do they belong to a single party family? More recently, what has been their electoral support in different countries and types of elections? To contribute to introductory comparative understanding about this topic, this paper will examine the existing literature, and analyze descriptive electoral data of recent contests. The aims of this work are twofold. First, it intends to provide theoretical background about discussions on the terminology and party family definition, which will be done grounded on the specialized literature. I argue that extreme right parties can be defined based on three features: identitarian politics, authoritarian values and a populist style. Second, this work assesses the current electoral performance of main extreme right parties across European countries, using descriptive data collected from three platforms: "ParlGov", "Parties and Elections in Europe" and "European Elections Database"