Authoritarian Nostalgia and Populist Radical Right Parties

We know that PRR parties politicise the past to obtain electoral gains in the present (Manucci 2020; 2022), but the role of authoritarian nostalgia in mainstreaming and normalising these parties is still understudied. While the legacies of authoritarianism can stigmatise PRR parties (Mendes and Dennison 2021), we argue that authoritarian nostalgia can also be used for electoral purposes. The nature of the authoritarian past varies across countries, affecting how credibly parties can incorporate authoritarian nostalgia, the general acceptability of such appeals, and the roots of individuals' attitudes toward it. This workshop advances the study of PRR party success by complementing the traditional demand- and supply-side framework with the role of authoritarian nostalgia. This workshop offers an ideal opportunity to unite specialists from diverse regions (addressing the legacies of both right- and left-wing authoritarian regimes) and to examine a complex, context-dependent relationship from various perspectives. Additionally, the workshop's outcomes are likely to extend beyond academia, given that PRR parties and leaders pose a significant threat to the liberal foundations of democracy: minority rights, media freedom, separation of powers, pluralism, and the rule of law (Betz and Johnson 2004; Rovira Kaltwasser 2012; Mudde 2019). Preference will be given to papers that mirror the diversity of the ECPR research community in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, rank, and regional specialization.

Betz, H.-G., and C. Johnson. 2004. ‘Against the Current – Stemming the Tide: The Nostalgic Ideology of the Contemporary Radical Populist Right’. Journal of Political Ideologies 9 (3): 311–27. Couperus, S., P.D. Tortola, and L. Rensmann. 2023. ‘Memory Politics of the Far Right in Europe’. European Politics and Society 24 (4): 435–44. Golder, M. 2016. ‘Far Right Parties in Europe’. Annual Review of Political Science 19: 477–97. Kim-Leffingwell, S. 2023. ‘Alternative Legacies of Authoritarianism: Pro-Dictator Bias in Ideology’. Party Politics 29 (3): 580–86. Manucci, L. 2020. Populism and Collective Memory: Comparing Fascist Legacies in Western Europe. New York: Routledge. ———. 2022. ‘Populism and Collective Memory’. In The Palgrave Handbook of Populism, edited by M. Oswald, 451–68. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. Mendes, M., and J. Dennison. 2021. ‘Explaining the Emergence of the Radical Right in Spain and Portugal: Salience, Stigma and Supply’. West European Politics 44 (4): 752–75. Mudde, C. 2019. The Far Right Today. Cambridge: Polity. Rovira Kaltwasser, C. 2012. ‘The Ambivalence of Populism: Threat and Corrective for Democracy’. Democratization 19 (2): 184–208. Smith, A. D. 2009. Ethno-Symbolism and Nationalism: A Cultural Approach. Abingdon: Routledge.

1: How do PRR parties refer to the authoritarian past in their discourses?
2: Are there territorial differences in how the authoritarian past is presented by PRR parties?
3: To what extent is authoritarian nostalgia spread among the population?
4: Under which circumstances does authoritarian nostalgia predict voting?
5: How do mainstream parties and media contribute to politicize the authoritarian past?

Title	Details
Authoritarian legacies and far-right normalization in the Andes	View Paper Details
Mainstreaming authoritarian nostalgia: How radical right normalization affects expression of nostalgia	View Paper Details
The Promise of a Better Past. Tabloid consumption, authoritarian nostalgia, and voting for the radical-right in Portugal and Spain	View Paper Details
Authoritarian nostalgia, regional-populist sovereignism, and anti-Western attitude: Czech case	View Paper Details
Authoritarian Nostalgia and the Mainstreaming of the Radical-Right	View Paper Details
Both fascist and communist? Socialist and clero-fascist authoritarian nostalgia(s) and vote for PRR parties in Slovakia.	View Paper Details
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European Citizens’ Conceptions of Democracy: The Explanatory Power of Non-Democratic Political Socialization	View Paper Details
Lost in modernization: populist radical-right voters between resentment, nostalgia and ethno-populist ideology.	View Paper Details
Enemies of the Past: How Anti-Communist Identity (and Nostalgia) Fuels the Populist Radical Right	View Paper Details
Explaining Latent Authoritarian Nostalgia: Distrust of Progressive Policies, Social Resentment, and the Trauma of Post-Soviet Transformation	View Paper Details