Mapping Extreme Right Ideology: An Empirical Geography of the European Extreme Right

256 Pages·2011·1.897 MB·English

by  Sarah Harrison, Michael Bruter (auth.)

Mapping Extreme Right Ideology
Also by Michael Bruter and Sarah Harrison
THE FUTURE OF OUR DEMOCRACIES
Also by Michael Bruter
ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF EUROPEAN ELECTIONS
CITIZENS OF EUROPE?
Mapping Extreme Right
Ideology
An Empirical Geography of the
European Extreme Right
Sarah Harrison
Research Officer, London School of Economics and
Political Science, UK
and
Michael Bruter
Senior Lecturer in European Political Science,
London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
© Sarah Harrison and Michael Bruter 2011
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2011 978-0-230-58101-2
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First published 2011 by
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ISBN 978-1-349-36899-0 ISBN 978-0-230-33683-4 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9780230336834
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Harrison, Sarah, 1982–
Mapping extreme right ideology : an empirical geography of the European
extreme right / Sarah Harrison, Michael Bruter.
p. cm.
Includes index.
1. Political parties – Europe. 2. Right-wing extremists – Europe.
3. Radicalism – Europe. 4. Europe – Politics and government – 1989– I. Bruter,
Michael, 1975– II. Title.
JN94.A979H37 2011
324.2(cid:2)13094—dc23 2011018682
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11
Contents
List of Tables vi
List of Figures viii
List of Plates ix
List of Abbreviations x
Acknowledgements xii
Preface xiii
1 Introduction and Research Question 1
2 Theoretical Framework and Conceptual Map 25
3 Case Selection and Methodology 49
4 The Conceptual Map and Extreme Right Elites 68
5 Capturing the Ideological Identities of Extreme Right Parties 94
6 Exploring the Extreme Right Universe:
Patterns of Internal Party Competition 113
7 How Stable Is the Discourse of Extreme Right Parties over Time?
Analysis of the Press Releases of Five European
Extreme Right Parties 134
8 Match or Mismatch? Investigating the Match between
Extreme Right Parties’ Ideological Positions and the
Ideological Preferences of Voters 149
9 Summary of Findings, Conclusions, and Discussion 194
Appendix A: Word Lists for the Four Pillars (British Sample) 207
Appendix B: Interviews of Extreme Right Party Elites:
Interview Template 210
Appendix C: Selected Questions from Mass Survey
(see Chapter 3): Version United Kingdom-Great Britain 211
Notes 213
References 218
Index 235

v
Tables
1.1 Notable electoral successes of extreme right parties in Europe 7
5.1 References to the two ideological dimensions in the
twenty-five extreme right party manifestos 105
8.1 Distribution of likeliness to vote for the
extreme right by country 151
8.2 Actual vote for extreme right parties 152
8.3 Increase in actual extreme right vote as propensity to
vote for extreme right parties gets higher 154
8.4 Gender and vote for the extreme right 157
8.5 Age and vote for the extreme right 160
8.6 Education and vote for the extreme right 162
8.7 Income and vote for the extreme right 163
8.8 A comparison of extreme right support in
six European democracies 164
8.9 Relative support for the extreme right ideological pillars 167
8.10 Correlations between four fundamental pillars of
extreme right ideology 168
8.11 Correlates of the four cardinal pillars of extreme right ideology 169
8.12 Correlations between extreme right ideology pillars,
propensity to vote, and effective vote for extreme right parties 169
8.13 Evolution of extreme right ideological pillars scores as the
propensity to vote for extreme right parties increases 171
8.14 Evolution of extreme right ideological pillar scores with
actual and projected effective vote 172
8.15 Regression of propensity to vote for extreme right parties 174
8.16 Explanatory power of individual-level multivariate predictions
of propensity to vote for the extreme right by country 176
8.17 Regression of actual vote for extreme right parties 177
8.18 Extreme right parties’ scores in national elections 180
8.19 Average electoral score of extreme right party by quadrant 182
8.20 E volution of the aggregate level success of European extreme
right parties by strategic-discursive quadrant 183
8.21 Election results of French extreme right parties in
general elections since 1978 184
8.22 E volution of French extreme right parties’ electoral success in
European Parliament elections 186
8.23 E lection results of German extreme right parties in
federal elections since 1949 188
vi
List of Tables vii
8.24 Evolution of German extreme right parties’ electoral
success in European Parliament elections 188
8.25 Election Results of British extreme right parties in
general elections since 1964 190
8.26 E volution of British extreme right parties’ electoral success
in European Parliament elections 191
Figures
2.1 A conceptual map of the extreme right ideological space 35
3.1 Methodological integration of the project 51
5.1 The distribution of discourse across the four ideological pillars 107
6.1 A strategic dilemma? The dynamics of internal party family
competition 116
6.2 P atterns of competition within the French extreme
right party family 121
6.3 P atterns of competition within the British extreme
right party family 124
6.4 P atterns of competition within the German extreme
right party family 127
7.1 Evolution of the discourse of the Front National from
1999 to 2008 136
7.2 Evolution of the discourse of the Vlaams Belang from
2002 to 2008 140
7.3 Evolution of the discourse of the BNP from 2004 to 2009 141
7.4 Evolution of the discourse of the SVP from 2002 to 2009 143
7.5 Evolution of the discourse of the DF from 2001 to 2008 145
8.1 I deological pillars, propensity to vote, and actual vote
for the extreme right 173
8.2 Evolution of extreme right parties over time by quadrant 182
8.3 Extreme right electoral success in France 185
8.4 German extreme right electoral success 189
8.5 Extreme right electoral success in Britain 190
viii
Plates
1 The ideological identities of twenty-five extreme right parties
2 Europe’s populist-repressive parties
3 Europe’s xenophobic-repressive parties
4 Europe’s populist-reactionary parties
5 Europe’s xenophobic-reactionary parties
6 Distribution of likeliness to vote for the extreme right by country
7 Evolution of extreme right parties’ scores in national elections
ix