Europeanized Eurosceptics? Radical Right Parties and European Integration

Abstract

As a potential catalyzer of political dissent, European integration has provided radical right parties with a new and powerful issue to compete on. The article assesses the impact of European integration on radical right parties by examining the adaptive strategies deployed by this party family in order to operate within a multilevel polity. Based on the record of transnational coalition-building and data on legislative activities in the European Parliament, the analysis reveals that the radical right has failed to establish itself as a relevant actor at the European level. The limited Europeanization of radical right parties is explained by the non-involvement in European policy-making and the inability to engage in durable paths of transnational cooperation resulting from divergent domestic party strategies.