From Accommodation to Radicalisation? Analysing and Understanding the Radicalisation of the Mainstream in Austria (2000-2025)

A number of recent studies have investigated mainstream parties’ accommodation of far-right parties and politics, and the role of mainstreaming and normalisation in the far right’s success. This paper moves beyond the analytical categories of “accommodation” and “mainstreaming” of the far right and explicitly investigates the radicalisation of the mainstream. Using the case of Austria, where the far right has been heavily normalised, I employ a discourse analytical approach, drawing on quantitative and qualitative evidence to analyse and illustrate the Austrian People’s Party’s (ÖVP) discursive shift and radicalisation towards the radical right over time. The findings highlight the role of active radicalisation of mainstream parties in the far right’s normalisation and mainstreaming. Moreover, it challenges often-used notions of accommodation, normalisation, and mainstreaming of the far right, which conceal mainstream parties’ active radicalisation. As such, it raises the question of whether greater attention needs to be paid to the explicit role of mainstream parties’ radicalisation over time, as the far right has become increasingly hegemonic in some European countries.