Extremism, Populism and the Far-Right in Context

Abstract

The far-right is on the rise in Europe and in the Americas. In the past decade – with the emergence of more volatile electorates and protracted global economic crisis – radical and right-wing populist parties have garnered unprecedented political power at national and supra-national elections. Along with this societal process, academics have devoted a great deal of research to investigate its history, evolution, voting patterns and its consequences for the stability of political systems. Indeed, the encompassing topic of ‘far-right’ – in its populist, radical, and extreme variations – has been one most studied subjects in the social sciences. In order to gain insight into this (almost) ubiquitous shift in political preferences in the American and European electorate, selected and interdisciplinary works are used to examine both contextual and dispositional factors shifting one’s political preferences towards the right. In this panel, particular focus is given to two approaches. The first deals with the interplay of contextual and individual-level antecedents associated with a higher susceptibility to populist and far-right politics such as inequality, unemployment and social identity and capital. While the second focuses on the underlying attitudes influencing populist and right-wing proclivities.

Title	Details
Contextual-level Unemployment and Support for Radical Right Parties: A Meta-Analysis	View Paper Details
Democracy is no good. Social identity, capital and personality and dissatisfaction with democracy in 28 European countries	View Paper Details
Inequality as a contextual factor of far-right voting in France	View Paper Details
Does a feeling of uncertainty promote intolerant political attitudes and behavior? Moderating the role of personal value orientations	View Paper Details
Measuring populism as a demand-side phenomenon: A psychometric evaluation of populist attitudes across Europe	View Paper Details