Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe

As Europe enters a significant phase of re-integration of East and West, it faces an increasing problem with the rise of far-right political parties. Cas Mudde offers the first comprehensive and truly pan-European study of populist radical right parties in Europe. He focuses on the parties themselves, discussing them both as dependent and independent variables. Based upon a wealth of primary and secondary literature, this book offers critical and original insights into three major aspects of European populist radical right parties: concepts and classifications; themes and issues; and explanations for electoral failures and successes. It concludes with a discussion of the impact of radical right parties on European democracies, and vice versa, and offers suggestions for future research. • Original study of an important phenomenon in European politics • A state of the art overview of the field, integrating studies of populist parties in both Eastern and Western Europe • Introduces a new concept of 'populist radical right'

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Reviews:

'The most comprehensive, exhaustive and analytically penetrating study of the populist right in Europe, both West and East. By extending the analysis into Eastern Europe, Cas Mudde makes a convincing case that contemporary right-wing populism is above all a revival of nativism. With this study, Mudde establishes himself as the leading expert on the subject.' - Hans-Georg Betz, author of Radical Right-Wing Populism in Western Europe (1994) 'A major achievement - the most comprehensive and insightful analysis of right-wing populism in Europe that has been published to date. This is comparative political analysis as it should be.' - Peter Mair, European University Institute 'Cas Mudde has done a brilliant job in integrating the now vast literature on the populist radical right in Europe. By focusing on a broad comparative analysis, he has critically assessed many of the claims about the support, programs and success of these parties. In the process, he has provided an important and comprehensive framework for understanding them. This is an excellent book, important for both scholars and students alike.' - Martin Schain, Professor of Politics, New York University 'Mudde's book gives testimony to the richness and depth of the literature on populist right-wing parties published over the past fifteen years, as well as to the many open questions that call for further research, given their scholarly importance and their political salience. There could be no better commentary and guide to the literature than Mudde's book. At the same time, Mudde advances the research frontier in creative ways and adds important insights critical for our understanding of the dynamic success (and failure) of populist right-wing parties in European politics.' - Herbert Kitschelt, Duke University 'In this groundbreaking book, Mudde provides the first comprehensive analytical treatment of populist radical right parties in Europe, both west and east. … Overall, a very thorough, careful, insightful, and impressive work. … Highly recommended.' - Choice '… this book will undoubtedly stimulate much future research.' - Political Studies Review '… he should be credited for his choice to concentrate on what the parties themselves see as their ideological core. … an impressive piece of work that fulfils the goal Mudde initially set forth for the book. … the book is recommended both to academics and nonacademics with an interest in party politics.' - Review of Politics ' … the book is a must read for students of European politics… The book is likely to become a benchmark for future work on the radical right.' - Journal of Politics

Part I Concepts: 1. Constructing a conceptual framework 2. From conceptualization to classification: which parties? Part II. Issues 3. Who's afraid of … ? 4. Männerparteien 5. It's not the economy, stupid! 6. Populist radical right democracy 7. 'Europe for the Europeans' 8. Globalization: the multi-faced enemy Part III. Explanations 9. Demand: in search of the perfect breeding ground 10. External supply-side: political opportunity structures 11. Internal supply-side: the populist radical right party 12. Assessing impact: populist radical right parties vs. European democracies 13. Conclusions.