The Portuguese Crisis and the Changes in the National Radical Right Party

The ideology of extreme-right parties is not static and it shows a significant capacity to adjust to new environments. A case point is the Portuguese Partido Nacional Renovador (PNR - National Renewal Party). Since its inception an ethno-nationalist ideological core and a strong anti-immigration platform have characterized the party. However, these features have taken a backseat since the entering of the Troika (FMI-BCE-European Commission) in Portugal, the beginning of the subsequent austerity programs by the national government and the worsening of economic conditions of the country. Emulating the most successful populist formations in Europe, the party has reoriented its priorities and emphasizes an anti-establishment discourse, disparaging and blaming the political class for the decadence of the country. The paper will describe this ideological evolution, as well as analyze the cross-border ties that the party has established with other like-minded parties. Finally, the paper will propose a comparison between the PNR strategy with the other far-right parties of southern Europe, in particular in Spain and Greece, in order to understand how and why similar populist supplies achieves different results, despite the common condition of national crisis. Co-Authors: José Pedro Zúquete (ICS-UL)