Radical-right Parties Research Articles

A Radical Right Revival?

Radical Right: Voters and Parties in the Electoral Market. By Pippa Norris. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 366 pp., $70.00 cloth (ISBN: 0-521-84914-4), $24.99 paper (ISBN: 0-521-61385-X). In Radical Right: Voters and Parties in the Electoral Market , Pippa Norris has provided a significant contribution to the growing literature on the rise of radical right-wing parties in the Western world. Although much of the book is focused on the radical right in Western Europe, she extends her analysis far beyond the French National Front and the other usual suspects to include parties vying for votes in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Russia, Israel, and the United States. One might quibble here and there about her choice of parties. (Identifying Ross Perot's Reform Party as belonging to the radical right seems a stretch, to say the least.) Nonetheless, the heterogeneity of countries with radical-right parties permits Norris to employ a novel and ambitious research design. One might ask what motivates the recent interest in the rise of right-wing parties? Is this interest a reaction to a realignment of political ideology in these countries, or does it reflect a deep-seated fear of a fascist revival? Much of the current literature on radical right-wing parties, including Radical Right , is premised on the belief that there has been an important and possibly enduring surge in support among voters for these parties over the past decades. Norris, for example, describes the radical Austrian Freedom Party as having solidified its support following a “critical” breakthrough election in 1999 (p. 248). Yet, even though the radical right has enjoyed success in some places (for example, France), it has not flourished elsewhere (for example, Germany). Nor is it clear just how enduring the successful parties are likely to be. Norris recognizes that the postwar history of the radical right in Europe abounds with examples of skyrocket or “flash” parties (for example, the French Poujadists in the early 1950s). These …

Radical Right Parties: Voters and Parties in the Electoral Market and Voting Radical Right in Western Europe

Radical Right Parties: Voters and Parties in the Electoral Market, Pippa Norris, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 349.Voting Radical Right in Western Europe, Terri E. Givens, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 178The growing importance of immigration politics in Western Europe during the past two decades and the connected rise of radical right parties have justifiably received much scholarly attention. While a first generation of scholars treating this phenomenon were mostly concerned with the social bases for the growing political influence of such parties, recent studies have begun to emphasize the importance of purely political factors, such as institutional frameworks and strategic party competition. The books on this topic by Norris and Givens are two of the most prominent accounts in this second generation of studies.

‘Women and children first!’ Anti-immigration parties and gender in Norway and the Netherlands

ABSTRACT Immigration, multiculturalism and citizenship policies have deeply divided political parties in Western Europe. In Norway and the Netherlands these divisions have been exploited successfully by radical-right populist parties. Akkerman and Hagelund compare the ideas and policies of the Norwegian Fremskrittspartiet (Progress Party) and the Dutch Lijst Pim Fortuyn (List Pim Fortuyn) with regard to cultural diversity, immigration and citizenship policies. What initially puzzled them was that issues that are normally left out of the radical-right agenda—such as gender equality, liberal family laws and women's participation in the labour market—seem to have been moved centre-stage in the policies and discourses of these parties. This is a development worthy of closer scrutiny. In Norway and the Netherlands, one can observe a general shift away from multiculturalism and a growing emphasis on citizenship and social cohesion. The issue of women's rights seems to provide a key to developing a renewed understanding of the boundaries of cultural diversity in these countries. To what extent have the radical-right parties provoked a rhetorical turn and policy shift towards cultural unity in Norway and the Netherlands, and to what extent are the programmes of these parties based on a defence of liberal values and gender equality?

The political culture of the Alleanza nazionale: an analysis of the party's programmatic documents (1995-2002)

The birth of the Alleanza nazionale and its rise to power in Berlusconi's 1994 and 2001 cabinets have attracted great interest. The evolution of the AN's political culture from 1995 to the present has received far less attention. The interest of scholars is dominated by concern over the number of fascist chromosomes inherited by the AN, and the way these influence its policy choices. The weight of history overlays the problems faced by the party in its attempt to establish an original identity. This article investigates the formation of the AN's political culture through an analysis of the official programmatic documents produced thus far by the party, putting each in the Italian political context at the time of its issue. The documents show that the AN is no longer a neofascist, extreme right or populist radical-right party, but its values and beliefs have not found a stable form.

Pauline Hanson and the Rise and Fall of the Radical Right in Australia1

In this paper Deutchman examines the rise and fall of the radical right in the late 1990s in Australia. In particular, she focuses on the rise and fall of Pauline Hanson's One Nation party. In 1996 an obscure backbencher named Pauline Hanson was elected to the federal parliament. From the moment she made her first speech in September of that year she was rarely off the nation's front pages. By April 1997 she started her own political party, One Nation. By July 1998 her party was able to win an astonishing 23 per cent of the vote in the Queensland state election. And by October 1998 she lost her own seat in Parliament and saw her party's fortunes decline. Deutchman examines various theories which have attempted to explain the rise of radical-right parties in Europe and the United States in order to understand the Australian case. Notably, she argues that the convergence of the two major parties, the Coalition and the Australian Labor Party, provides the setting in which the emergence of a radical-right party becomes more likely. Such a party often emerges when the two major parties are centre-right ones, as is the case in Australia. In most countries research has shown that it is difficult for a radical-right party to do well nationally. Indeed, this has been true in Australia. Despite the fact that One Nation has lost much of its electoral support, Deutchman argues that it is premature to write off the radical right in Australia.