The Development of Radical Right Parties in Western Europe

Abstract

Throughout Western Europe, popular support for radical xenophobic parties has grown dramatically over the past two decades. Indeed, parties supporting ideologies that had been relegated to the lunatic fringe in the postwar period have now established a significant and enduring presence in most Western European states. Populist calls for the expulsion of all peoples of immigrant descent and a return to a “traditional” and “racially pure” Europe are finding growing resonance and providing the leaders of the radical right with increasing political leverage. The numbers alone are striking: the Swiss People’s Party received 23 percent of the popular vote in a 1999 election; the National Front in France received 17 percent of the nationwide vote in the first round of the 2002 presidential election, as did the Norwegian Progress Party; Jorg Haider’s Austrian Freedom Party moved from nearcollapse to second place in the 1999 election, with 27 percent of the national vote; in Belgium, the Flemish Bloc has demonstrated consistent growth and in the most recent election received 13 percent of the vote in Flanders. The list could easily go on. Clearly, these parties can no longer be dismissed as anomalous and ephemeral effects of unfavorable societal shifts; they have established a significant and enduring presence on the partisan scene and display a growing capacity to form voters’ opinions and affect policy formation.