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The Rise Of The Far Right Since The 1980s
Date : 11/05/2016
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Uploaded by : Jacob
Uploaded on : 11/05/2016
Subject : Politics
Since the 1980s, there has been a drastic rise in the number
of niche parties (Spies and Franzmann, 2011: p.1044) on the political stage in
many European countries. Among the most prolific of these are those belonging
to the populist radical right party family (Rydgren, 2005: p.413), ranging from Jean-Marie Le Pen s
breakthrough Front Nationale through
to the recent threat of UKIP success in Britain (Seth-Smith, 2013). This essay
seeks to address the main reasons for this rise, identifying the interplay and
importance of two factors the emergence of a new master frame (Rydgren,
2005: p.416) that has helped to de-stigmatise populist radical right wing
politics from its association with the old right of Nazism and Fascism (Rydgren,
2005: p.413), and the presence of political opportunity structures that
contextualise the ability of populist radical right parties to compete for
votes (Spies & Franzmann, 2011: p.1046). The development of the new master
frame of populist radical right parties will be analysed in parallel with the political
opportunity structures that both effect, and are affected by the rhetorical
impact of PRRPs within domestic and transnational contexts. There exist many different ways of classifying far right
parties within the literature, which can lead to a lack of conceptual clarity
(van Spanje, 2011: pp.295-296) when it comes to which parties to analyse. In
light of this, this essay uses Mudde s term Populist Radical Right Parties
(2007, 2013) to group together parties that share a core ideology that
includes the combination of (at least) nativism, authoritarianism and populism
(Mudde, 2013: p.3). This essay will begin by outlining the way in which nativism,
authoritarianism fit into the master frame (Rydgren, 2005: pp.413-414)
characteristic of these parties. A frame in this sense, is an interprerative
schemata that acts as a way of reducing into simple terms the complexities of
social, economic and political phenomena and relations (Snow and Benford, 1992
cited in Rydgren, 2005: p.426). Framing is here viewed as a discursive practice
in that it shapes and places limits on the way in which knowledge of phenomena
is produced, discussed and reasoned (Hall, 2001: p.72.). One way in which Rydgren distinguishes between the old
frame of the far right which lost resonance after the Second World War
experience of fascism (Arzheimer, 2009: p.259) and the new frame that emerged
from the French intellectual Nouvelle Droite (New Right), is through
discussion of the emergence of the concept of ethnopluralism (Rydgren, 2007: p.427). Ethnopluralism states a
belief in the differences (but not inferiority) and the incompatibility between
different ethnic groups, and the need to preserve unique national characters by
keeping them separate (Rydgren, 2005: p.427). The recasting of biological
racism to cultural racism (Rydgren, 2007: p.478) is of utmost importance to
the rise of populist radical right parties as it permits PRRP s to take
advantage of latent xenophobic and racist public attitudes without being
stigmatised as being racists (Rydgren, 2005: p.428). As an ideology, nativism
holds that states should be inhabited exclusively by members of the native
group ( the nation ) and that nonnative elements (persons and ideas) are
fundamentally threatening to the homogeneous nation-state. (Mudde, 2007: p.19).
The second integral factor to the rise of the PRRPs and the
master frame as conceptual schema refers to anti-establishment populism. The
prevalence of anti-establishment, but not anti-democratic, values within the
master frame of the new PRRP s is central to their distinction from old right
parties, and by extension their success, as the majority of Western European
voters are pro-democracy, and perceive parties with anti-democratic values to
be illegitimate (Rydgren, 2003: p.51). Populist radical right wing parties
rhetorically place themselves in opposition to a constructed image of the
mainstream political class and parties as homogenous and indistinct from each
other (Rydgren, 2005: p.427), exploiting pre-existing sensibilities in regards
to the way mainstream political parties are perceived to have converged
(Kitschelt, 2002 cited in Spies and Franzmann, 2011: p.1048 and Rydgren, 2005:
p.422), allowing them to be seen as a party offering a real alternative, which
is usually bolstered by their lack of an incumbency record against which they
can be criticised (Hainsworth, 2007:p.108). Additionally, parties such as the
Danish People s Party have been careful not to associate themselves with racist
or anti-democratic groups (Rydgren, 2007: p.487) so as to be in a position to
plausibly defend themselves against charges of racism or anti-democratic
values. The electoral breakthrough of the French Front Nationale in 1984
(Rydgren, 2005: p.416) using the masterframe of ethnopluralism and anti-establishment
populism provided a model that could be diffused across national borders, hence
the similarities between PRR parties within different political systems(Rydgren,
2005: p.415), and is therefore central to the rise of PRRPs in Europe. This essay will now go
on to discuss the way in which the master frame, encompassing the tenets of
ethnopluralism and anti-establishment populism that have been discussed so far,
interacts with both pre-existing political opportunity structures and
participates in the creation of new political opportunity structures. It will
argue that this interaction opens political space for PRRPs to emerge by
exploiting and exacerbating socio-political cleavages and in turn allows PRRPs to position
themselves as owning newly politicised issues such as immigration (Rydgren,
2007: p.492). It will in turn argue that this occurs through a myriad of
processes that shape the political context on both a transnational and domestic
level, and that these factors are reinforced and entrenched through processes
of legitimisation, adoption by the mainstream (be it the media or mainstream
parties), and increased salience of an issue on a national and transnational
level. The definition of political opportunity structures
used in this essay follows Tarrow 1998 that they are consistent
but not necessary formal, permanent, or national resources that are external to the party
or movement in question.
(cited in Rydgren, 2007: p.476). The perceived increases in immigration in many
European nations (Mudde, 2007: pp.210-212) since the 1980s through to the
2000 s has resulted in a political opportunity structure that allows PRRPs to
increase the salience of the immigration issue through recourse to rhetoric
grounded based on the perceived challenge that immigrant ethnic groups pose to
the integrity and stability of national identity. In constructing ethnic
difference and incompatibility in a way that is plausibly defensible from
charges of racisms, PRRPs place themselves in a position to take advantage of
political opportunity structures that concern the perception of a myriad of
threats facing a native population, as well as mobilising underlying xenophobic
and racist sentiment (Werts et al, 2012: p.18 and Rydgren, 2003: p.49).The
notion of incompatibility is manifest within the literature in the discussion
of immigrant values vs. traditional values of the native population, and has
been shown to be an important factor for support of PRRPs, for example in the
form of support for the British National Party (Rhodes, 2011: p.108), the
Danish People s Party (Rydgren, 2007: p.482) and the Front National s growth
since 1982 and large successes in the first round of the 2002 presidential
election (Hainsworth, 2007: pp.101-102). PRRPs have in many cases succeeded in
adopting policy lines that soften their image as regards immigration, making
them appear reasonable and less associated with old right policies of simply
removing all immigrants, as was the case with the Front National when it moved
towards a policy of helping immigrants to return to their home countries
within a framework of development co-operation (Hainsworth, 2007: p.106). Emphasis on the immigration issue is bound up in the rise and
fall of socio-economic and socio-political cleavages and the political
opportunity structures these represent in regards to the emergence of niches in
the political arena and the politicisation of new issues (Rydgren, 2005:
p.418). Ignazi argues that the structural conditions of post-industrial society
has seen to the decline in socio-economic cleavages and the rise in salience of
issues such as immigration, morality and national pride (1996: p.557) in
response to the loss of bonds of family, kinship and (small) community (Ignazi,
1996: p.557) people want to hold on to what they have in the face of
perceived threats of globalisation (Mudde 2007: p.223), manifest in concerns
around immigration, and seek solace in the simple messages of the populist
radical right (Mudde, 2007: p.223). The rise of socio-political cleavages and
previously non-politicised issues like immigration, and the demise of
socio-economic dimensions that characterised working class voting preferences
in the industrial age (Rydgren, 2007: p.490), destabilises the political arena
and allows for new issues to come to the fore which is of advantage to PRRPs
employing the newly formulated master frame. The frame is capable of providing
both a reason for these perceived insecurities and threats, such as resource
allocation going towards ethnic minorities and not natives, identified by
Rhodes as a factor in BNP support in the U.K (2011: pp.111-113), and positions
PRRPs as having the solution (Rydgren, 2005: p.426). Due to the decrease in voter trust in mainstream political institutions
and discontentment with parties that has been seen across Europe (Rydgren,
2005: p.422), PRRPs are able to capitalise on being seen to have solutions to
new issues. PRRPs, through their ability to respond quickly to growing niches
or newly politicised issues through employment of the master frame, are able to
benefit from political opportunity structures in a way that mainstream parties
are not due to constraints such as ideological commitment and identification
which means there is a time lag between the voters and the parties movements
within the political space (Rydgren, 2003: p.50) when a newly politicised
issue emerges. Opportunity structures exist that enable the issue of
immigration to be tied in with other political issues that further enables
PRRPs to maintain the prominence of the issue within the political field for
example ownership of the immigration issue is seen as central to the rise of
PRRPs as it acts as the policy through which other policies flow (Hainsworth, 2007:
p.106).. The perceived security crisis and
the perception of a security threat from a particular ethnic group in the
post-9/11 climate can provide an opportunity for PRRPs to re-politicise the immigrant
question, framed in security terms (Hirsch-Hoeffler et al, 2010: pp.681-682)
and gain support. Further, the issue of European un ion membership and the
Eurozone crisis can similarly be seen as a political opportunity structure to
be mobilised by PRRPs, in the form of Euroscepticism (Mudde, 2013: p.7, p.12
& p.15), in light of the facilitating role it plays in the proliferation of
immigration in Europe and the concerns about continental interconnectedness
that the Eurozone crisis has engendered. Further to this, the politicization
of new issues (especially the immigration question) is of great importance, not
least because it may grant [PRR] parties increased media coverage (Rydgren, 2005:
p.422). The attention given to these issues is further increased within and by
the media where the perspectives on issues that PRRPs can claim ownership of
are shared and supported by tabloid papers and news outlets (Mudde, 2007:
pp.248-249). This tabloidization of discourse represents a favourable
discursive political opportunity structure (Mudde, 2013: p.15) and helps to
maintain the political salience of issues close to the heart of PRRPs, and thus
its salience in the mind of the electorate which can lead to increased support
for PRRPs. Once an issue such as immigration reaches the popular consciousness,
mainstream parties are forced to confront it, as politicians react not just to
the indirect threat posed by electoral competition from the far right but also
to more direct evidence of voter and media concern about real or perceived
problems (Bale et al, 2010: p.411). The perceived movement of the electorate
towards the PRRP position on a socio-political issue can have a significant
impact on the positioning of both mainstream left and right parties, and
consequently on the legitimisation of PRRP issues in political discourse (Spies
& Franzmann, 2011: p.1049). Bale et al outline the challenges posed by
PRRPs and responses from social democrat parties a party will hold its
position...defuse a new political issue...adopt the RRP stance (2010:
pp.412-414) but the authors acknowledge that often the actual strategies
employed by these parties involve a mixture of the three (2010: p.412). The
uptake of PRRP positions and rhetoric by mainstream parties (largely on the
right)(Mudde, 2013: p.8) functions to legitimise to some extent, PRRP positions
(Rydgren, 2005: p.424) Once the
conceptual schema of the masterframe succeeds in becoming prevalent in the mind
of the electorate, and legitimised by mainstream parties and tabloid media,
these structures are self-reinforcing and function to exacerbate and entrench
concerns around issues such as immigration that have been newly politicised by
PRRPs, explaining their rise. The analysis presented by this essay emphasises the
importance of both the creation of a general new radical right masterframe that
distinguishes PRRPs from their old right and fascist predecessors which can
be employed by nascent radical right parties within specific contexts, and the importance
of analysing the variable and contextually determined political opportunity
structures that present themselves to parties as opportunities to reconfigure
political space, take ownership of issues and raise them to the positions of a
salient discourse within a polity. In utilising the masterframe that denigrates
mainstream parties, enables de-stigmatisation and mobilisation of nascent
xenophobic attitudes and positions PRRPs as holding solutions to the problems
that they, in part, politicise.
Bibliography Arzheimer, K. (2009). "Contextual Factors and the Extreme Right Vote in Western Europe, 1980-2002." American Journal of Political Science 53(2): 259-275. Bale, T. and Green-Pederson, C. and Krouwel, A. and Luther, K.R. and Sitter, N. (2010). "If You Can`t Beat Them, Join Them? Explaining Social Democratic Responses to the Challenge from the Populist Radical Right in Western Europe." Political Studies 58: 410-426. Hainsworth, P. (2007). "The extreme right in France: the rise and rise of Jean-Marie Le Pen`s Front National." Representation 40(2): 101-114. Hall, S. (2001). Foucault: Power, Knowledge and Discourse. Discourse Theory and Practice: A Reader. M. a. T. Wetherell, S. and Yates, S.J. London, Sage Publications. Hirsch-Hoefler, S. and Canetti, D. and Pedahzur, A. (2010). "Two of a Kind? Voting Motivations for Populist Radical Right and Religious Fundamentalist Parties." Electoral Studies 29: 678-690. Ignazi, P. (1996). "The Crisis of Parties and the Rise of New Political Parties." Party Politics 2(4): 549-566. Mudde, C. (2007). Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Mudde, C. (2013). "Three Decades of Populist Radical Right Parties in Western Europe: So what?" European Journal of Political Research 52(1): 1-19. Rhodes, J. (2011). "`It`s Not Just Them, It`s Whites as Well`: Whiteness, Class and BNP Support." Sociology 45(1): 102-117. Rydgren, J. (2003). "Meso-level reasons for racism and xenophobia: Some Converging and Diverging Effects of Radical Right Populism in France and Sweden." European Journal of Social Theory 6(1): 45-68. Rydgren, J. (2004). "Explaining the Emergence of Radical Right-Wing Populist Parties: The Case of Denmark." West European Politics 27(3): 474-502. Rydgren, J. (2005). "Is extreme right-wing populism contagious? Explaining the emergence of a new party family." European Journal of Political Research 44: 413-437. Seth-Smith, N. (2013). "UKIP and the Rise of English Nationalism." Retrieved 05/11/2013, from http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/ukip_and_the_rise_of_english_nationalism Spies, D. and Franzmann, S. T. (2011). "A Two-Dimensional Approach to the Political Opportunity Structure of Extreme Right Parties in Western Europe." West European Politics 34(5): 1044-1069. van Spanje, J. (2011). "The Wrong and the Right: A Comparative Analysis of `Anti-Immigration` and `Far Right` Parties." Government and Opposition 46(3): 293-320. Werts, H. and Scheepers, P. and Lubbers, M. (2012). "Euro-scepticism and radical right-wing voting in Europe, 2002-2008: Social cleavages, socio-political attitudes and contextual characteristics determining voting for the radical right." European un ion Politics 0(0): 1-23.
Bibliography Arzheimer, K. (2009). "Contextual Factors and the Extreme Right Vote in Western Europe, 1980-2002." American Journal of Political Science 53(2): 259-275. Bale, T. and Green-Pederson, C. and Krouwel, A. and Luther, K.R. and Sitter, N. (2010). "If You Can`t Beat Them, Join Them? Explaining Social Democratic Responses to the Challenge from the Populist Radical Right in Western Europe." Political Studies 58: 410-426. Hainsworth, P. (2007). "The extreme right in France: the rise and rise of Jean-Marie Le Pen`s Front National." Representation 40(2): 101-114. Hall, S. (2001). Foucault: Power, Knowledge and Discourse. Discourse Theory and Practice: A Reader. M. a. T. Wetherell, S. and Yates, S.J. London, Sage Publications. Hirsch-Hoefler, S. and Canetti, D. and Pedahzur, A. (2010). "Two of a Kind? Voting Motivations for Populist Radical Right and Religious Fundamentalist Parties." Electoral Studies 29: 678-690. Ignazi, P. (1996). "The Crisis of Parties and the Rise of New Political Parties." Party Politics 2(4): 549-566. Mudde, C. (2007). Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Mudde, C. (2013). "Three Decades of Populist Radical Right Parties in Western Europe: So what?" European Journal of Political Research 52(1): 1-19. Rhodes, J. (2011). "`It`s Not Just Them, It`s Whites as Well`: Whiteness, Class and BNP Support." Sociology 45(1): 102-117. Rydgren, J. (2003). "Meso-level reasons for racism and xenophobia: Some Converging and Diverging Effects of Radical Right Populism in France and Sweden." European Journal of Social Theory 6(1): 45-68. Rydgren, J. (2004). "Explaining the Emergence of Radical Right-Wing Populist Parties: The Case of Denmark." West European Politics 27(3): 474-502. Rydgren, J. (2005). "Is extreme right-wing populism contagious? Explaining the emergence of a new party family." European Journal of Political Research 44: 413-437. Seth-Smith, N. (2013). "UKIP and the Rise of English Nationalism." Retrieved 05/11/2013, from http://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/ukip_and_the_rise_of_english_nationalism Spies, D. and Franzmann, S. T. (2011). "A Two-Dimensional Approach to the Political Opportunity Structure of Extreme Right Parties in Western Europe." West European Politics 34(5): 1044-1069. van Spanje, J. (2011). "The Wrong and the Right: A Comparative Analysis of `Anti-Immigration` and `Far Right` Parties." Government and Opposition 46(3): 293-320. Werts, H. and Scheepers, P. and Lubbers, M. (2012). "Euro-scepticism and radical right-wing voting in Europe, 2002-2008: Social cleavages, socio-political attitudes and contextual characteristics determining voting for the radical right." European un ion Politics 0(0): 1-23.
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