Mapping Counterstrategies Against the Far Right: the Institutions-Parties-Voters Trilemma

This paper proposes a framework for comparing and assessing the far-right threat across contexts. It examines different combinations of potential changes across three dimensions: (1) institutions, i.e. the strength and resilience of democratic institutions over time; (2) parties, i.e. the degree of party system institutionalisation and permissiveness, as well as the extent of far-right party normalisation; and (3) voters, i.e. the breadth and composition of far-right voter coalitions, and the size of the non-far-right voter groups. By mapping how distinct combinations of changes across these three dimensions may generate different outcomes, we can identify scenarios of far-right democratic backsliding across time, country, and region. The framework suggests there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution and enables the development of counterstrategies tailored to each dimension.