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State of Research: Linking Social Theory with Comparative Politics

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The Rise of Populism in Western Europe

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Abstract

The literature review on the studies of populist radical right parties such as the French Front National (FN) starts with the classics of social conflict theory, covers comparative social sciences, boundary studies, relational studies and ends with comparative party politics. The chapter shows how helpful moving beyond the literature of party politics is in understanding the rise and fall of populist radical right parties. It explains the importance of discourses on symbolic boundaries of national identity and of the perceived social structures national opinion makers traffic in. The literature review defines the understudied link between discourses and structure as a theoretical foundation of this study. Finally, it underscores the importance of scrutinizing the politicization of identity politics amongst established parties in explaining variation in the advances of populist radical right parties.

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    Timo Lochocki

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  1. Timo Lochocki
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Lochocki, T. (2018). State of Research: Linking Social Theory with Comparative Politics. In: The Rise of Populism in Western Europe. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62855-4_3

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