PORTUGAL: A NEW LOOK AT THE EXTREME RIGHT

Abstract

This article examines the recent emergence and increasing visibility in Portugal of an extreme right party, the Partido Nacional Renovador (National Renewal Party), whose driving force is no longer nostalgia for the ‘New State’ of Salazar but rather the rejection of modern trends such as globalisation, immigration, and the overriding influence of supranational bodies like the European Union. It looks at the structural conditions that have facilitated the National Renewal Party's emergence, and outlines the main features, themes, and values of the party's ideological core. It then focuses both on the conditions that might lead the party to achieve an electoral breakthrough and the obstacles that can impede its development. It argues that the traditionally perceived ‘marginalisation’ of the Portuguese extreme right, in a context of crisis and the emergence of a political entrepreneur who could profit from it and supply a new alternative, may come to an end.