The Success and Failure of the Radical Right in Flanders-Belgium: The Life-cycle of the Vlaams Belang

Through a study of the Belgian Vlaams Belang (VB) this paper develops a political sociology of the extreme right beyond the current static demand and supply explanations. Our argument is that explanations for the rise, success and decline of the VB are multifaceted, and related to changes in contemporary society; political opportunity structures; the organization and mobilization structure of extreme right; as well as in its cultural - read populist – framing. Furthermore, we argue that the relevance of these individual conditions varied during the life cycle of the VB, which can be divided into phases of establishment (1979-1985); breakthrough (1987-1991); success and consolidation (1995-2004); and erosion and decline (2006-2015). As the VB can be considered a prototypical far right party which has gone through all phases of the life cycle, this paper has important implications for the study of comparable cases beyond Belgium.