Anti-immigration parties and the defence of liberal values: The exceptional case of the List Pim Fortuyn

Abstract

The radical right parties that have emerged in Western Europe during the past thirty years have sometimes been labelled as anti-liberal. This is a puzzling qualification, considering the fact that the Flemish Block, the Austrian Freedom Party, the Northern League in Italy, the Danish People's Party, the Norwegian Progress Party and, above all, the List Pim Fortuyn have promoted themselves as uncompromising defenders of liberal principles. The leaders of these parties have embraced freedom of expression, separation of church and state, and the equality of men and women to build a case against immigration. Is the defence of liberal values a core concern of these parties or are these parties actually anti-liberal? This paper investigates the relations between populist, nationalist and liberal ideas, focussing on the exceptional case of the LPF.