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 economic crisis hit a number of European Union countries like a storm, with widespread patterns of electoral volatility and bad news for governing parties on… Continue reading “What Drives the Center Right’s Electoral Success?”
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 right-wing parties (ERW). Drawing on key scholars such as Cas Mudde, there are three key features that characterize PRR parties. PRR parties have a nativist, authoritarian… Continue reading “The Far-Right Party Family in the 21st Century: A Guide”
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 European Parliament elections, many of these parties are no longer on the periphery and have become influential. Furthermore, a number of mainstream parties have avowedly… Continue reading “From ‘Challengers’ to ‘Incumbents’: The Populist Radical Right in Government”
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 past few years, due to its rising prominence in global politics. In the 2019 European Parliament elections, these parties have further increased their vote shares… Continue reading “The Populist Radical Right Is an Electoral Threat That Is Here to Stay”
Eighty years after the Kindertransport, politicization of the supposed threats to western ways of life represented by refugees have become commonplace. Eighty years ago, German Jewish parents sent their children to the UK on a scheme known as the Kindertransport. Some 10,000 children arrived in the framework of a programme of which the UK is… Continue reading “The Kindertransport was controversial too – it teaches us that hostility can be overcome”
It is now clear that the Norwegian minority government, mainstream conservatives and the radical right will be joined by the tiny Christian people’s (Kristelig Folkeparti-Krf) party in a new, strengthened coalition. After a nail biting internal vote where the Krf Knut Arild Hareide asked the party to support his Christian social values and topple the… Continue reading “Asylum Policy in Norway: How a Norwegian government crisis perpetuates the brutal treatment of refugees”
“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”
The Trump Administration’s decision to separate the children of illegal immigrants and asylum-seekers has created a popular uproar. So much so that the President felt compelled to rescind the Attorney General’s April decision within a week of the scenes of young children taken from their parents hitting television screens. The public was clearly aroused in… Continue reading “Children at the Border”
In 2015, the ‘refugee crisis’ was a pressing issue facing European societies. Now, it has become the main vehicle for mobilizing the far right. Three years ago, Europe faced its largest influx of migrants since the wars in former Yugoslavia. A seemingly endless flotilla of unseaworthy boats attempted to cross the Mediterranean, as desperate people… Continue reading “How The Refugee Crisis Fuels Radical Right-Wing Extremism”