The radical-right Progress Party (FRP) withdrew from Norway’s coalition government on January 20. This is a big defeat for FRP leader Siv Jensen, whose big ambition was to prove his party was koalitionsfähig, or “coalition capable.” After six years in government, the conflict between the populist radicals and the more moderate wing of the party… Continue reading “With the Collapse of a Right-Wing Coalition, Has Norway Turned Its Populist Tide?”
The Pareto optimum is one of the best-known concepts in economics. It is named after Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian social scientist considered one of the founders of microeconomics. What is perhaps less know is that Pareto taught at the University of Lausanne (canton of Vaud), one of Switzerland’s oldest universities. In 1904, Pareto had an… Continue reading “Benito Mussolini, Dr. hc: Switzerland, the Fascist Temptation and the Populist Right”
With several parties in Italy competing on the right and far right, Valerio Alfonso Bruno and James F. Downes look at the recent growth in support for Fratelli d’Italia. They argue that this party is building domestic support, along with a network of contacts of likeminded populist radical-right actors globally, which demonstrates the increased mainstreaming of populist radical-right ideas in… Continue reading “The case of Fratelli d’Italia: how radical-right populists in Italy and beyond are building global networks”
Why did the movie become a new cultural touchstone for the alt-right? The far right has long used popular culture as a means of promoting their own ideals. It is a common misconception that extremists live and act within their own, fringe cultural sphere. Whilst much of far right literary and musical culture is produced… Continue reading “Joker, the far right and popular culture”
It’s become clear that racism isn’t a side effect of far-right ideology, it is a foundational quality of radical right parties in the US and Europe. Is racism a necessary component of the radical right’s appeal? When I was conducting my research on the radical right in the late 1990s and early 2000s, I tried… Continue reading “Racism Is A Core Component Of The Radical Right”
“We may only be at the beginning of the populist radical right surge in European politics.” Electoral Oblivion The Netherlands, Hungary, France, Germany and Sweden: what do all of these countries, stretching across both Western and Central-Eastern Europe, have in common? They share one core uniform feature; namely, widespread patterns of electoral volatility, with a… Continue reading “The Decline of the Left and the Populist Radical Right Surge in the Refugee Crisis”
Tommy Robinson has been transformed into a truly global figure, a purported martyr for the dispossessed and the most influential radical-right leader in Britain since Sir Oswald Mosley. Following Tommy Robinson’s imprisonment in May for contempt of court, the #FreeTommy campaign demonstrated just how much the British radical right has changed in a short space of time. It has… Continue reading “Tommy Robinson and the Transformation of the British Far Right”
With the media on their side, the SD has managed to persuade many unionised women in the health service that it is the only party for them. Does the mainstream know why? One of the three biggest parties in Sweden, the nativist Sweden Democrats (SD) has become a force to reckon with. More scarily still,… Continue reading “Does Sweden’s mainstream have to talk to the Sweden Democrats?”
This interview by SSRCorg with Cynthia Miller-Idris is on her latest book, The Extreme Gone Mainstream: Commercialization and Far Right Youth Culture in Germany (2018). Professor Cynthia Miller-Idriss is Head of Outreach at CARR, and Professor of Education and Sociology at American University.
It is impossible to understand the Brexit vote and the political culture that has emerged in its wake without appreciating Britain’s lurch to the right. Earlier this year, an intriguing lens was cast on the nature of radical and far-right ideas in post-Brexit Britain. At the center was a graphic tweeted by Leave.EU — the… Continue reading “The Underlying Radicalism of Brexit”