Inside the Radical Right: The Development of Anti-Immigrant Parties in Western Europe
Cambridge University Press, 2/21/2011
EAN 9780521896245, ISBN10: 052189624X
Hardcover, 288 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm
Language: English
What explains the cross-national variation in the radical right's electoral success over the last several decades? Challenging existing structural and institutional accounts, this book analyzes the dynamics of party building and explores the attitudes, skills and experiences of radical right activists in eleven different countries. Based on extensive field research and an original data set of radical right candidates for office, David Art links the quality of radical right activists to broader patterns of success and failure. He demonstrates how a combination of historical legacies and incentive structures produced activists who helped party building in some cases and doomed it in others. In an age of rising electoral volatility and the fading of traditional political cleavages, Inside the Radical Right makes a strong case for the importance of party leaders and activists as masters of their own fate.
1. Introduction
2. Activists and party development
3. Parties of poor souls
4. Nationalist subcultures
5. Party transformation and flash parties
6. Reforming the old right?
7. Conclusion
Appendix A. Percentage of the vote for radical right parties in national parliamentary elections
Appendix B. Coding procedure for radical right party lists
Appendix C. ISCO codes for radical right candidates for office.
Advance praise: 'In Inside the Radical Right, David Art takes up the pressing issue of the radical right in Europe. Rather than focusing primarily on issues like unemployment, globalization, and immigration, Art provocatively argues that the key to understanding these parties' differing fates are factors internal to the parties themselves, and the ways in which other actors in the political system respond to them. Art's book shows that rising radicalism is not an inevitable outcome of changing economic, social, or political contexts, but is in fact critically shaped by the ways in which parties and other political actors in a political system respond to the challenges they face. Scholars of European politics, the radical right, and social movements more generally will find this book of great value.' Sheri Berman, Barnard College