Populist Radical Right Parties in the Nordic Region: A New and Distinct Party Family?

Abstract

The Nordic countries are no longer characterized by a stable five‐party system. Not only have small Christian parties and Green parties emerged in most countries, so‐called ‘populist radical right parties’ have also been increasingly successful in recent decades. This article examines to what extent the populist radical right parties in the Nordic countries represent a new party family. Based on various and original data, including archive material, interviews with key representatives, party manifestos and expert surveys, the processes of deciding party names, the development of transnational linkages and ideological transformation are analyzed. The article demonstrates that even though the Danish People's Party, the True Finns and the Sweden Democrats have different historical legacies, they have converged ideologically (i.e., socioeconomically centrist and socioculturally authoritarian), adopted similar names and are on the verge of becoming a more formalized transnational actor. The Progress Party in Norway is better seen as a hybrid between a populist radical right party and a more traditional conservative party. The findings challenge several classifications in the extensive literature on populist radical right parties. Most importantly, the True Finns should be included as a populist radical right party, whereas the Norwegian party should be treated more carefully. Furthermore, Nordic populist radical right parties are no longer – if they have ever been – so‐called ‘neoliberal populists’. Finally, the findings suggest a re‐freezing of the Nordic party systems in which a phase of divergence has been replaced by a phase of convergence.

Liberal Illiberalism? The Reshaping of the Contemporary Populist Radical Right in Northern Europe

“…3 Each of these parties combine policies that are undeniably xenophobic and putatively anti-liberal with at times classically liberal positions in other policy areas. The former policies are well-documented in the academic literature, and thus do not require a lengthy analysis here: in addition to the anti-liberal positions lay out by Pappas above, they include racism (Widfeldt, 2015), nativism (Hellström & Hervik, 2014), xenophobia (Rydgren, 2010) and authoritarianism (Jungar & Jupskås, 2014). What is of interest, however, are the latter policies, which have been less explored.…”

“…These parties have been chosen as they are the most prominent cases of PRR parties in Northern Europe (Jungar & Jupskås, 2014;Mudde, 2007Mudde, , 2013 and this study follows a similar regional-based approach put forward by Mudde and Rovira Kaltwasser (2015). 3 Each of these parties combine policies that are undeniably xenophobic and putatively anti-liberal with at times classically liberal positions in other policy areas.…”

Who's Welcome and Who's Not? Opposition towards Immigration in the Nordic Countries, 2002–2014

“…Instead, the Norwegian parties have generally sought to marginalize FrP (Hagelund ; Bale et al ) and consistently refused any closer collaboration until 2013, when the party was invited to form government with the Conservatives. Second, comparing the Nordic RRPs, it is clear that nativist ideas are least salient for FrP which is often discussed as a hybrid or a borderline case (Jungar & Ravik Jupskås ). Taken together, this suggests that cultural threats to a larger extent should reflect in immigration attitudes in Denmark than in Norway.…”

The Aloof Election Manifesto: <i>Radical Political Right in Finland in the Borderlines of Neoliberalism and Cultural Nativism</i>

“…Tebble, A.J. 2006;Kestilä 2006;Joppke, C. 2007;Mudde 2007;Zúquete 2008;Art 2007;Zaslove 2009;Bornschier 2010;Triadafilopoulos, T. 2011;Paloheimo 2012;Koivulaakso, Brunila & Andersson 2012;Bale 2012;Jungar & Jupskås 2014;Pyrhönen 2015). My particular focus is the ideology of the 'immigration critics' in Finland.…”