<p>In this research paper I have interpreted and analysed how it is possible for a Radical Right Populist Party such as FPÖ (The Freedom Party) to obtain electoral success in the end of the last millennium. In 1999 they were elected into the national legislative parliament with 26.9% of the votes and participated in the Shüssel government from February 2000. I believe this is an extreme case study and my method is the so called Disciplined-configurative case study. I’ve conducted this study by using earlier published research and than dividing these old theories into to three analytical categories. By doing this I hopefully came closer to understand the problem with FPÖ: s electoral success in a better way than before. The interpretation of the data was enabled by a structural theory-method and my findings were that the FPÖ used the rapid and macro-societal changes in an effective way by mobilising a great share of some strata that to some extent were of a cross-class nature in the Austrian electorate 1999. This was possible as a consequence of bad management by the conventional political parties (SPÖ, ÖVP) and their party-functionaries. Other findings were that the electorate system is crucial for the success of Radical Right Populist Partiers such as FPÖ and that the Austrian party system was a match with its low threshold for parliamentary representation and its proportional electoral system.</p><p>Key words: Radical Right Populist Parties, FPÖ, Austrian domestic politics</p>

In this research paper I have interpreted and analysed how it is possible for a Radical Right Populist Party such as FPÖ (The Freedom Party) to obtain electoral success in the end of the last millennium. In 1999 they were elected into the national legislative parliament with 26.9% of the votes and participated in the Shüssel government from February 2000. I believe this is an extreme case study and my method is the so called Disciplined-configurative case study. I’ve conducted this study by using earlier published research and than dividing these old theories into to three analytical categories. By doing this I hopefully came closer to understand the problem with FPÖ: s electoral success in a better way than before. The interpretation of the data was enabled by a structural theory-method and my findings were that the FPÖ used the rapid and macro-societal changes in an effective way by mobilising a great share of some strata that to some extent were of a cross-class nature in the Austrian electorate 1999. This was possible as a consequence of bad management by the conventional political parties (SPÖ, ÖVP) and their party-functionaries. Other findings were that the electorate system is crucial for the success of Radical Right Populist Partiers such as FPÖ and that the Austrian party system was a match with its low threshold for parliamentary representation and its proportional electoral system. Key words: Radical Right Populist Parties, FPÖ, Austrian domestic politics