James Downes

Insights

The Center Right Goes Hardline On Immigration In Europe

The Importance Of The Immigration Issue The European Refugee crisis, which began in 2015, has provided significant challenges for mainstream political parties in Europe, both on the center left, the…

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7 min

Insights

Explaining Electoral Support for the Far-Right Sweden Democrats (2016–2017)

Drawing on public opinion data from 2016–2017, Dr James F. Downes and graduate Jeremy Lok examine the ‘rise’ in support for the Sweden Democrats, in the context of the refugee…

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7 min

Insights

Disunity within the Ranks? Party Expulsions in the European Radical Right: 2000–2020

Drawing on an original database of party expulsions of radical right parties in Europe across twenty countries from 2000-2020, Felix Wiebrecht, James F. Downes, Edward Chan and Anna Kam devise…

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9 min

Insights

Ideological Ambiguity, Issue Blurring & Party Dissent: The Electoral Decline of the Populist Italian Five Star Movement

James F. Downes and Nicola Palma argue that Italian Five Star Movement’s (M5S) future as a governing party is uncertain. Drawing on data from the Chapel Hill Expert Survey (2014,…

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5 min

Insights

‘Syncretic’ Populism in Contemporary 21st Century European Politics

What is ‘Syncretism’? ‘Syncretism’, also known as “Catch-all Populism” in the academic literature, is an ambiguous term that has often been applied to political parties that are ideologically centrist and have…

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5 min

Insights

What Drives the Center Right’s Electoral Success?

Center-right parties recognized the 2008 economic crisis as a time of greater voter volatility when the populist radical right sought to secure more support through appeals over immigration. The 2008…

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7 min

Insights

The Far-Right Party Family in the 21st Century: A Guide

Ideological Diversity Contemporary Far Right parties in Europe are often grouped into two distinct ideological wings. It is first important to differentiate between populist radical right parties (PRR) and extreme…

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7 min

Insights

From ‘Challengers’ to ‘Incumbents’: The Populist Radical Right in Government

Electoral Breakthroughs Following the electoral breakthrough of the populist radical right (PRR) in continental Europe in both recent national parliamentary elections covering the 2015–2018 refugee crisis period and the 2019…

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9 min

Insights

East v. West? The Internal Battle within the Far Right in Germany

The 2019 European Parliament Elections provided an important case where the far-right Alternative for Germany Party (AfD) performed electorally well. However, we argue that there is a core tension within…

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9 min

Insights

The Populist Radical Right Is an Electoral Threat That Is Here to Stay

In the 2019 European Parliament elections, populist radical-right parties have further increased their vote shares. Academic scholarship and media coverage of the populist radical right has expanded considerably in the…

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Categories

The Center Right Goes Hardline On Immigration In Europe

Explaining Electoral Support for the Far-Right Sweden Democrats (2016–2017)

Disunity within the Ranks? Party Expulsions in the European Radical Right: 2000–2020

Ideological Ambiguity, Issue Blurring & Party Dissent: The Electoral Decline of the Populist Italian Five Star Movement

‘Syncretic’ Populism in Contemporary 21st Century European Politics

What Drives the Center Right’s Electoral Success?

The Far-Right Party Family in the 21st Century: A Guide

From ‘Challengers’ to ‘Incumbents’: The Populist Radical Right in Government

East v. West? The Internal Battle within the Far Right in Germany

The Populist Radical Right Is an Electoral Threat That Is Here to Stay

In Poland, public funding is given to those threatening liberal democracy

5 Years After The Munich Shooting: Why It Should Be Remembered As Right-Wing Terrorism

How January 6 Echoed Past Right-Wing Coup Attempts In The Western World

What links organised crime with the radical right?

The Radical Right Is Targeting Neurodivergent Groups