Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Riddle: Why Are Some Populist Radical Right Parties More Successful than Others?

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Rise of Populism in Western Europe

  • 2080 Accesses

Abstract

The second chapter provides a brief overview of the public and academic debate over the rise and fall of populist radical right parties such as the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). It defines the party family under scrutiny and explains their winning formula ‘for the nation, against the elite’. It briefly outlines how their rise has altered Western European democracies and why their advances are of major interest to scholars, journalists and citizens alike. The state of research is summarized and the lack of innovative data gathering is shown as an obstacle to advances in the study of populist parties. Lastly, the chapter outlines the major research questions and explains why comparative case studies are best suited to explain why populist radical right parties succeed or fail.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 69.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 89.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Akkerman T (2015) Immigration policy and electoral competition in Western Europe: a fine-grained analysis of party positions over two decades. Party Polit 21(1):54–67

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arzheimer K (2009a) Contextual factors and the extreme right vote in Western Europe. Am J Polit Sci 53(2):259–275

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arzheimer K (2009b) Protest, neo-liberalism or anti-immigrant sentiment: what motivates the voters of the extreme right in Western Europe? Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft/Comp Gov Polit 2:173–197

    Google Scholar 

  • Bale T (2003) Cinderella and her ugly sisters: the mainstream and extreme right in Europe’s bipolarising party systems. West Eur Polit 26(3):67–90

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bale T et al (2010) If you can’t beat them, join them? Explaining social democratic responses to the challenge from the populist radical right in Western Europe. Polit Stud 58:410–426

    Google Scholar 

  • Balfour R et al (2016) Europe’s troublemakers. The populist challenge to foreign policy. European Policy Centre (EPC). Available at: http://www.epc.eu/documents/uploads/pub_6377_europe_s_troublemakers.pdf. Last accessed 7 May 2017

  • Bornschier S (2010) The new cultural divide and the two-dimensional political space in Western Europe. West Eur Polit 33(3):419–444

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bornschier S (2011) Why a right-wing populist party emerged in France but not in Germany: cleavages and actors in the formation of a newcultural divide. Eur Polit Sci Rev. Available on CJO 2011. doi:10.1017/S1755773911000117

  • Brubaker R (2001) The return of assimilation? Changing perspectives on immigration and its sequels in France, Germany, and the United States. Ethn Racial Stud 24(4):531–548

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carvalho J (2014) Impact of extreme right parties on immigration policy: comparing Britain, France and Italy. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Dionne EJ (2016) Why the right went wrong. Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Eatwell R (2003) Theorising the rise of the European extreme right: towards a three-dimensional model. In: Merkl PH, Weinberg L (eds) Right-wing extremism in the twenty-first century. Frank Cass, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellinas A (2010) The media and the far right in Western Europe: playing the nationalist card. University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Fieschi C et al (2012) Recapturing the reluctant radical: how to win back Europe’s populist vote. Counterpoint

    Google Scholar 

  • Ford R, Goodwin M (2014) Revolt on the right: explaining support for the radical right in Britain. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Giugni M, Koopmans R (2007) What causes people to vote for a radical right party? A rejoinder to van der Brug and Fennema. Int J Public Opin Res 19(4):488–491

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glazer N (1997) We are all multiculturalists now. Harvard University Press, Harvard

    Google Scholar 

  • Helbling M, Tresch A (2011) Measuring party positions and issue salience from media coverage: discussing and cross-validating new indicators. Elect Stud 30:174–183

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howard MM (2006) Comparative citizenship: an agenda for cross-national research. Perspect Polit 4(3):443–454

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howard MM (2009) The politics of citizenship in Europe. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Howard MM (2010) The impact of the far right on citizenship policy in Europe: explaining continuity and change. J Ethn Migr Stud 36(5):735–751

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Inglehart R, Welzel C (2005) Modernization, cultural change and democracy: the human development sequence. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Ivarsflaten E (2005) The vulnerable populist right parties: no economic realignment fuelling their electoral success. Eur J Polit Res 44:465–492

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ivarsflaten E (2008) What unites right-wing populists in Western Europe? Re-examining grievance mobilization models in seven successful cases. Comp Polit Stud 41:3–23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joppke C (2007) Beyond national models: civic integration policies for immigrants in Western Europe. West Eur Polit 30(1):1–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King G et al (1994) Designing social inquiry: scientific inference in qualitative research. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitschelt H (1995) The radical right in Western Europe: a comparative analysis. Michigan University Press, Ann Arbor

    Google Scholar 

  • Kriesi H et al (2008) West European politics in the age of globalization. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lochocki T (2015a) Countering right-wing populism. The AfD and the strategic dilemma for Germany’s moderate parties. GMF Policy Brief 1/2015. Available at: http://www.gmfus.org/publications/countering-right-wing-populism. Last accessed 7 May 2017

  • Lochocki T (2015b) How the United Kingdom independence party’s one seat has the power to change British and European politics. GMF Policy Brief 2/2015. Available at: http://www.gmfus.org/publications/how-UKIPs-one-seat-has-power. Last accessed 7 May 2017

  • Minkenberg M (2001) The radical right in public office: agenda-setting and policy effects. West Eur Polit 24(4):1–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mouritsen P (2008) Political responses to cultural conflict: reflections on the ambiguities of the civic turn. In: Mouritsen P (ed) Constituting communities: political solutions to cultural conflict. Palgrave Macmillan, London, pp 1–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Mudde C (2010) The populist radical right: a pathological normalcy. West Eur Polit 33(6):1167–1186

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mudde C (2013) The 2012 Stein Rokkan lecture. Three decades of populist radical right parties in Western Europe: so what? Eur J Polit Res:1–12

    Google Scholar 

  • Mudde C (2016) The study of populist radical right parties: towards a fourth wave. C-Rex Working Paper Series 1/2016. Available at: https://www.sv.uio.no/c-rex/english/publications/c-rex-working-paper-series/Cas%20Mudde:%20The%20Study%20of%20Populist%20Radical%20Right%20Parties.pdf. Last accessed 7 May 2017

  • Muis J (2012) Pim Fortuyn: the evolution of a media phenomenon. Ridderkerk

    Google Scholar 

  • Norris P (2005) Radical right: voters and parties in the electoral market. Cambridge University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rydgren J (2007) The sociology of the radical right. Ann Rev Sociol 33:241–262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tilly C (1984) Big structures, large processes, huge comparisons. Sage Foundation, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Van der Brug W, Fennema M (2007) What causes people to vote for a radical-right party? A review of recent work. J Public Opin Res 19(4):474–487

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Der Brug W, van Spanje J (2009) Immigration, Europe and the ‘new’ cultural dimension. Eur J Polit Res 48:309–334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • van Spanje J (2010) Contagious parties: anti-immigration parties and their impact on other parties’ immigration stances in contemporary Western Europe. Party Polit 16(5):563–586

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wesslau F (2016) Putin’s friends in Europe. European Council on Foreign Relations Commentary, Oct 19. Available at: http://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_putins_friends_in_europe7153. Last accessed 7 May 2017

  • Wimmer A (2000) Racism in nationalised states: a framework for comparative research. In: Verkuyten M, Ter Wal J (eds) Comparative perspectives on racism. Ashgate, Adlershot, pp 47–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Wimmer A (2002) Nationalist exclusion and ethnic conflict: shadows of modernity. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Yilmaz F (2012) Right-wing hegemony and immigration: how the populist far-right achieved hegemony through the immigration debate in Europe. Curr Sociol 60:368–382

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The German Marshall Fund of the United States, Berlin, Germany

    Timo Lochocki

Authors
  1. Timo Lochocki
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Lochocki, T. (2018). The Riddle: Why Are Some Populist Radical Right Parties More Successful than Others?. In: The Rise of Populism in Western Europe. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62855-4_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation