Friends with Benefits? Changing Relationships between Radical Right Populist Parties in Europe

Abstract

European radical right populist parties have traditionally been considered ‘unlikely bedfellows’, a view best reflected in Minkenberg and Perrineau’s 2007 observation that ‘there is nothing more difficult to establish than an international group of nationalists’. This lack of cooperation at international level was due not only to policy and personality clashes, but also derived from the fear of being tainted by association with other radical right parties. Over the past decade, however, this situation has changed with European radical right populist parties not only collaborating more than ever, but doing so openly and unapologetically. Examples range from the close relationship between the Danish People’s Party and the Finns Party, to the creation of the new European Parliament Europe of Freedom and Nations Group comprising the French Front National, the Dutch Party for Freedom, the Italian Northern League, the Flemish Vlaams Belang and the Austrian Freedom Party. The changing relationships between radical right populist parties in Europe give rise to a series of questions that this panel will examine: What are the logics underpinning greater collaboration between these parties? If rooted in policies, which ones? What are the strategic and practical advantages of collaboration for parties and why do they now outweigh the disadvantages in some cases? How can we explain the divisions that still do persist between some radical right parties?