From National Liberalism to Economic Nationalism

The economic programme of far-right parties shifted from the promotion of neoliberal policies to a more economic nationalist agenda. Far-right parties gain in electoral support across the globe, with many scholars arguing that this is due to a backlash against globalization, immigration, economic inequality, neoliberal policies and multiculturalism. However, such a view fails to acknowledge how the party discourse of the far right has changed over the past decades simultaneous to their increasing electoral success. In recent years, their discourse powerfully re-defines and re-constructs economic interests as best served on the national level, rather than to support globalization or Europeanization. This is suggested to promote national identification through pride in national industries, national production, and nostalgic sentiments for national currencies. This analysis shows how ideas of economic nationalism have started to feature more prominently in Austria´s far-right party parallel to their increasing electoral success. Using an inductive process tracing approach, this paper systematically describes the change in discourse from 1999 until 2017 when they entered government in coalition with the Austrian People´s Party. In doing so, this study offers an alternative lens to read the recent rise of the far right.