Conceptual Approaches in the Study of the Radical Right and its Impact

Abstract

The recent rise of new radical right actors to national office both in Europe’s East (e.g. People’s Party Our Slovakia, Freedom and Direct Democracy) and West (e.g. Alternative for Germany), and the increasing normalization of radical right parties’ entrance into governing coalitions across Europe render the examination of these parties’ impact on their political environment and on policy-making ever more relevant. In addition to the radical right’s growing presence on the political scene, the matter’s importance is further strengthened by the increasing salience of topics traditionally at the core of radical right mobilization on national political agendas as well as on the agenda of the European Union. Although academic literature has grown on radical right impact over the years, studies generally still focus on individual (or very limited number of) cases and use ad hoc frameworks for analysis. Comparative contributions clearly conceptualizing and measuring radical right impact and developing methodologically sound, potentially even transferable analytical models are still lacking. Furthermore, while existing research focuses on radical right parties’ impact on the national level, EU-level actors and policies are still left unexplored. The present panel therefore invites submissions that further our understanding about the impact of radical right actors across Europe, on national and EU-level, by providing a theoretical and/or methodological contribution to the conceptualization, modeling and measurement of the consequences of radical right success, with a particular focus on parties and policies.