La tesis doctoral analiza la emergencia del partido anti-inmigración Plataforma per Catalunya (PxC) exponiendo las principales características de dicho partido así como los motivos de su progresivo crecimiento electoral. El periodo temporal que abarca el análisis va desde la fundación del partido en el 2002 hasta las elecciones legislativas de noviembre del 2011. Se trata de un ciclo electoral en que PxC ha experimentado un importante crecimiento en el apoyo electoral recibido y ha conseguido erigirse en un actor con una cierta relevancia en el escenario político catalán. No obstante, la tesis doctoral también expone los factores que habrían debilitado el proyecto político de PxC y que explicarían porque tras diez años de existencia aún no ha conseguido dar el salto a la política parlamentaria. La tesis se presenta mediante el formato de compendio de publicaciones e incluye cuatro artículos. En el primer artículo, “La derecha radical populista en Europa: discurso, electorado y explicaciones”, se analiza la amplia literatura académica sobre los partidos de "nueva extrema derecha" o "derecha radical populista" que han emergido con fuerza en el continente europeo a partir de la década de los ochenta. Con ello se enmarca la emergencia de Plataforma per Catalunya en un determinado contexto histórico y se sientan las bases teóricas para la comprensión del “fenómeno” PxC. En el segundo y tercer artículo se analiza la trayectoria política de PxC y se exponen las principales variables para comprender su progresivo crecimiento electoral. El segundo, “La hora del populismo? Elementos para comprender el “éxito” electoral de Plataforma per Catalunya”, se centra el análisis del periodo 2002-2007 y en comprender los motivos de su importante crecimiento en determinados municipios y territorios de Catalunya. El tercer artículo, “El largo ciclo electoral de Plataforma per Catalunya: del ámbito local a la implantación nacional (2003-2011)”, se centra en el periodo 2007-2011 y analiza los factores que habrían permitido al partido extenderse por el conjunto del territorio catalán y obtener un importante crecimiento electoral. Para ello se utilizan, entre otras cosas, una serie de entrevistas realizadas a miembros y votantes del partido. El cuarto artículo, “El salto a la nueva extrema derecha: una aproximación a los votantes de Plataforma per Catalunya”, se centra en el electorado de Plataforma per Catalunya. Así, a través de dos series de entrevistas realizadas a votantes del partido, se analizan los factores clave en su proceso de “acercamiento” a PxC. Esto incluye tanto los motivos por los que han decidido darle su voto como aquéllos elementos del partido que provocan “dudas” o rechazo entre su electorado. Finalmente, las conclusiones de la tesis analizan algunos elementos que no han podido ser abordados adecuadamente en los diferentes artículos, y, desarrollan una reflexión sobre cuáles pueden ser los principales ámbitos de investigación sobre el fenómeno PxC en los próximos años. / The dissertation examines the emergence of the anti-immigration party Platform for Catalonia (PXC). It presents the main features of the party and the reasons for its progressive electoral growth. The time period covered by the analysis goes from the party's creation in 2002 up to the legislative elections of November 2011. This is an cycle in which PxC has experienced significant growth in the electoral support received and managed to establish itself as an actor with a certain relevance in the Catalan political scenario. However, the thesis also presents the factors that have weakened PxC’s political project and explain why after ten years of existence it has not managed to enter into parliamentary politics. The thesis is presented as a compendium of publications and includes four articles. In the first article, "The populist radical right in Europe: discourse, electorate and explanations", analyzes the extensive literature on “new extreme right" or "populist radical right" parties that have emerged in the European continent after the nineteen eighties. This is useful in order to present the emergence of Platform for Catalonia in a particular historical context and build the theoretical foundations for the understanding of the "political phenomenon" represented by PxC. The second and third articles analyze the PxC’S political trajectory and outline the key factors behind its progressive electoral growth. The second article, "Time for populism? Insights into the electoral "success" of Platform for Catalonia", focuses on the 2002-2007 period and explains the reasons for the party’s significant growth in certain municipalities and territories of Catalonia. The third article, "Platform for Catalonia’s long election cycle: from local to national politics (2003-2011)", focuses on the period 2007-2011 and analyzes the factors that have allowed the party to spread all over Catalonia and obtain a significant electoral growth. For this purpose, among other things, the author uses a series of interviews with party members and voters. The fourth article, "Voting for the new extreme right: an approach to Platform for Catalonia voters", focuses on the party’s electorate. Thus, through two sets of interviews with its voters, the key factors that have attracted the voters are highlighted. Those elements of the party that create "doubts" in its voters are also analyzed. Finally, the conclusions of the thesis discuss some elements that have not been adequately addressed in the various articles, and, develop a reflection on which might be the main areas of research on the PxC phenomenon in the coming years.

After the Catalan conflict in 2017, the number of female politicians and sympathizers in VOX increased notoriously(Bernardez-Rodal et al., 2020). Moreover, the growing participation and engagement of female audiences suggests that the use of several techniques to attract women (Pilkington, 2017; Mattheis, 2018; Askanius, 2021a) or the use of topics that evoque shared feelings (Dietze & Roth, 2020) could also be unfolding at a great speed in Spain. Thus, wanting to spand knowledge on the mentioned phenomenon, this thesis focuses on the Spanish context and explores how three VOX female politicians benefit from Alternative Influence Networks or AIN (Lewis, 2018) in Instagram and use influencer practices to spread far-righ ideas and sell anti-feminist or gender equality narratives.  For veracity and objectivity this research considered every post in the feed of these representatives for the sampling,obtaining a total of 290 relevant posts which were later analysed following a case study methodology. Theories of mediatization and media power, social media, online Interactivity and AIN, gender politics, and post-feminism and anti-feminism, served to understand the content of the analysed posts and classify them into 5 main topics (1. Anti-Feminism;2. Maternity; 3. Gender Politics and Gender Issues; 4. Targeting Women: Fear for the Spanish Race; 5. Christian values: pro-life and heteronormative love) that were repeatedly manifested in various ways. Main findings include how VOX female politicians benefit from social media to target women and sell far-right ideas through influencer practices and other tactics that are similarly used by other far-right actors. From this we could conclude that the role of female representators in VOX is of great importance to attract female audience by posting sensitive content or aiming at empathy through identification as well as to soften the image of the far-right through fear-based techniques or turning to biology.