The Radical Right in Western Europe

Towards the median economic crisis voter? The new leftist economic agenda of the Front National in France

“…Our findings are in line with the literature on PRR economics for the earlier periods. They support Kitschelt's (1995) hypothesis of a 'winning formula' during the entry phase of the West European PRR, which defines the PRR as strong advocate of rightist free market economics, small government and deregulation. The FN's capitalist appeal culminated in the 1986 and 1988 legislatives where the vast majority of its macro economic policies were located to the right (see Figure 2).…”

“…The latter have displayed a good deal of economic policy instability over time (Betz, 1996). During the 1980s, parties such as the FN were associated with neoliberal economics and a backlash against bureaucracy and the welfare state (Betz, 1994;Ignazi, 2003;Kitschelt, 1995). Most scholars agree however that they have progressively adopted a more 'centrist' position on the economic axis (McGann and Kitschelt, 2005;De Lange, 2007), reflecting the diversification of their electoral base and the growth in blue-collar support.…”

“…The supply-side translates demand into practical party politics" (p.202). Kitschelt (1995) argues similarly that the rise of the radical right is not just conditioned by favourable opportunity structures and existing demands for PRR alternatives, but also "by the capabilities and choices of the incipient rightist entrepreneurs and parties themselves" (p.3). The success of PRR parties is contingent on their ability to fashion appropriate policy appeals to voters under a given set of structural conditions.…”

The Paradox of Well-being: Do Unfavorable Socioeconomic and Sociocultural Contexts Deepen or Dampen Radical Left and Right Voting Among the Less Well-Off?

“…Although radical right parties can differ from each other regarding their positions on ethical and socioeconomic issues, they constitute a quite homogeneous party family-or, at least, not more internally heterogeneous than, for instance, the conservative or liberal party families (Ennser, 2012). It has been argued and empirically established that radical right parties are disproportionately popular among voters with lower socioeconomic positions (see Kitschelt, 1995;Lubbers et al, 2002;Rydgren, 2013;Werts et al, 2013). …”

Where to for the Radical Right in the European Parliament? The Rise and Fall of Transnational Political Cooperation

“…While there has been much academic discussion about the causes and consequences of this rise in support for RRPs within domestic political contexts (see Kitschelt 1995;Norris 2005;Givens 2005;Ignazi 2006;Hainsworth 2008), within an EU framework, the rise of the Radical Right has generated much less scholarly debate. Mudde (2007: 158) points out that that the study of ‗populist radical right parties in the EP' remains ‗the domain of anti-fascists and freelance journalists' and ‗that there has been virtually no systematic empirical challenge' to what he describes as ‗their often grotesque misrepresentations of a ‗brown network' based largely on bizarre conspiracy theories.'…”