Fighting the system? Populist radical right parties and party system change
Abstract
This article assesses the impact of populist radical right parties on national party systems in Western Europe. Has the emergence of this new party family changed the interaction of party competition within Western European countries? First, I look at party system change with regard to numerical and numerical–ideological terms. Second, I evaluate the effect populist radical right parties have had on the different dimensions of party systems. Third, I assess the claim that the rise of populist radical right parties has created bipolarizing party system. Fourth, I look at the effect the rise of the populist radical right has had on the logic of coalition formation. The primary conclusion is that, irrespective of conceptualization and operationalization, populist radical right parties have not fundamentally changed party systems in Western Europe.
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Biographies
Cas Mudde is Associate Professor in the Department of International Affairs at the University of Georgia. His research aims to gain insight into the question: How can liberal democracies defend themselves against political challengers without undermining their own core values? His most recent publications include the two readers Youth and the Extreme Right (IDEBATE, 2014) and Political Extremism (SAGE, 2013, 4 volumes). He is currently working on projects on the Israeli settler movement and on the radical environmentalist and animal rights movement.
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Article first published online: February 3, 2014
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