1st Edition

The Populist Radical Right in Central and Eastern Europe Ideology, impact, and electoral performance

By Andrea Pirro Copyright 2015
    222 Pages 18 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    242 Pages 18 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Often neglected in the study of far right organisations, post-communist Europe recently witnessed the rise and fall of a number of populist radical right parties. The Populist Radical Right in Central and Eastern Europe is the first comparative study to focus on the ideology, impact, and electoral performance of this party family in the region. The book advances a series of arguments concerning the context and text of these parties, and systematically analyses the supply-side and demand-side of populist radical right politics. Whilst populist radical right parties in Central and Eastern Europe maintain broad similarities with their West European counterparts, they come across as a distinct phenomenon worthy of study in their own right. Parties like Ataka (Bulgaria), Jobbik (Hungary), and the SNS (Slovakia) resort to historical legacies and contextual idiosyncrasies to frame their ideology; interact with other parties over a number of policy areas; and ultimately compete for public office on the basis of their nativist agenda.

    The book provides a novel framework for the analysis of different aspects of populist radical right politics, notably enhancing the understanding of this phenomenon by means of primary data such as personal interviews with party leaders and original expert surveys. Using the ideological features of these parties as an overarching analytical tool, this book is essential reading for students and scholars researching the far right, post-communist issues and European politics in general.

    1. Introduction PART I CONTEXT AND TEXT 2. The Context and Issues of the Prophets of the Patria 3. The Ideology of the Populist Radical Right in Bulgaria, Hungary, and Slovakia PART II SUPPLY AND DEMAND 4. Exploring the Dimensionality and Assessing the Impact of Populist Radical Right Parties 5. Demand and Supply: The Electoral Performance of the Populist Radical Right 6. Conclusions Appendix A List of Consulted Country Experts Appendix B Country Expert Questionnaire Appendix C Expert Surveys’ Scores Appendix D List of Survey Questions Index

    Biography

    Andrea L. P. Pirro holds an M.A. in Politics from the University of Sheffield and a Ph.D. in Comparative and European Politics from the University of Siena. He is joint convenor of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) Standing Group on Extremism & Democracy. His research interests include the relation between extremism and democracy, populism, Euroscepticism, social and political change in Europe, parties and elections. His work appeared in Government and Opposition, East European Politics, as well as a number of edited volumes. He is a regular media commentator on populist and radical politics.