Perhaps the most notable political phenomenon of the past decade has been the rise of global populism. Different political systems around the world have experienced the rise of anti-establishment politics, often accompanied by calls for protectionist economic policies, and exclusionary practices. Scholars struggle to define this phenomenon as it takes on different forms in different places. This research examines why some places experience a surge of radical right populism in the margins of the political system, and a populist turn at the center of the political system. In such places, the rhetoric and agenda of right wing radical movements penetrate the mainstream and ultimately transform political institutions. The dissertation explores the dynamics of the relationship between the radical right and mainstream political actors. I address several key questions. What makes some countries more susceptible to transformative populism? Why do mainstream actors in some countries condone or adopt the agenda and rhetoric of radical groups? Which rhetoric frames are more effective than others for radical groups? I argue that the behavior of central political actors is constrained by acceptable narratives in society. When radical groups compose a narrative that presents them as the true representatives of the nation, it makes it more difficult for states to take direct action against them. This is true even when radical groups employ violent rhetoric and action, disrupt public order, and undermine social cohesion and solidarity. To do so, they appropriate national symbols and myths and reframe them in a manner that places the group as the true successors of national forefathers, and their radical actions and ideologies as expressions of the national will. In an environment of deeply disputed national identity, the claim over national history and symbols can delegitimize and undermine political actors with a rivaling view of the nation. To understand the nature of the relationship between radical groups and the political center, and the disruptive political outcomes of populism we are witnessing in certain places today, I argue we need to view the populist struggle as a struggle over the nation itself between political centers and peripheries. To that end I define the nation as the effort to create a solidarity group through shared ethnicity, history, culture, language, territory, or civic identity. To evaluate the theory, I conduct cross case comparison in Central Eastern Europe, and within case process tracing in three different cases: present day radical populists in Hungary, 1970-1980s Jewish religious settlers in the West Bank, and the Ku Klux Klan in 1920s United States. The purpose of the comparison is to explore different ways societies addressed uneven and contradictory national identity in the 1989 transition from communism, and the consequences for the rise of disruptive radical populism. The individual cases serve to evaluate possible mechanisms leading to radical right capture of mainstream politics. The uneven spread of contradictory national identity is explored in depth in Chapter Two. Through the cases of four Central European states I show that the process of transition presented different options for countries to either reproduce long standing center-periphery cleavages, or address them. Chapter Three delves into the Hungarian case and evaluates explanations for the shift of the mainstream toward radical populism, and the leniency of politicians toward extremist violence. Continuing to explore rhetorical mechanisms of radical actors, Chapter Four examines the language of Jewish settlers in the 1970s and 1980s through the analysis of unique primary resources. The case of the 1920s Ku Klux Klan explored in Chapter Five demonstrates that though initially successful, the group was ultimately unsuccessful outside the Deep South. Chapter Six discusses the research findings and their implications. I find that center-periphery cleavages that do not overlap with ethnicity have their own set of outcomes. While nationalist emergence in ethnically divided center-periphery societies is turned outside – toward the other ethno-national group, the national fervor in ethnically homogenous but center-periphery divided societies is turned inwards – from the periphery toward the center. This is manifested in the rise of anti-establishment anti-elitist discourse that presents the elite establishment as foreign, and legitimizes an overturn of liberal institutions. Another key finding is that where mainstream political actors did not address center-periphery cleavages, the rhetorical space was open for the radical right to use an extreme version of them to justify exclusionary and violent actions.

Thesis (Ph.D)--Universität Stuttgart, 2002. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Mar. 17, 2003).

In January 2015, three terrorists killed 17 people in Paris. In a time in which fears of immigrants and Muslims are spread in Europe and right wing movements are gaining support, this event built a foundation for actors of centre right and right wing parties to use the attacks in their favor. The aim of this study was to investigate how French and German media reported on the attacks, which measures were suggested in response to the attacks by political actors and how media facilitated possible securitization moves. By conducting this case study for which French and German newspaper articles were collected through the database Lexis Nexis and analyzed through content and discourse analysis, a contribution to security studies was made. The analytical framework used, Securitization Theory with an integration of Framing Theory, proved valuable as it indicated that media, by framing the issues connected to the Paris Attacks in favor of securitizing actors, facilitated securitization moves. Securitizing actors were mainly centre right politicians in Germany and the French right wing party National Front. Furthermore, German newspaper articles on the attacks outnumbered French newspaper articles, indicating the high level of media attention to the key event. However, the role of Islam was mentioned in more French newspaper articles than it was the case in German newspapers. Overall, terrorism and Islam were portrayed as a threat to the referent objects of the West, its citizens and values, fostering an essentialist and dichotomist understanding of the West and Islam.

This thesis analyses the ideology of the Radical right-wing Populist Party, Sweden Democrats. The aim of the study is to see if and how the ideology of the Sweden Democrats has changed through its years of activity, by comparing the party in three periods. The focus in the analysis is put on the party's view on the Swedish national identity and on multiculturalism. The reason for analyzing the party's view on these two concepts is due to the fact that they can be seen as corner stones in a racist ideology. An explanation of the concepts will be presented in the theory chapter, which is later used in the analysis of the party. The study shows that the ideology of the Sweden Democrats has changed very little throughout its years of activity in terms of their view on the national identity and the multicultural idea. This as a result has led to a similar amount of change in the arguments that can be seen as racist, by the party.

Extreme right-wing political parties and movements are growing in number and size all over Europe and in their tail, an increased political focus on immigration and its pros and cons. Sweden is no exception to the European trend and the Swedish extreme right-wing political party, Sverigedemokraterna, became the third largest political party in the latest elections for the Swedish parliament in 2014. The objective of this study is to contribute to the current debate on rising right-wing party affiliation through an analysis of the reasons for extreme right-wing voting behavior of immigrants in Sweden. Through a case-study based on six in-depth interviews with immigrants voting for Sverigedemokraterna, the study looks into issues regarding social group identification as the issue of identification with or repudiation of the ‘outgroup’ appears, from previously conducted research, to be a key issue. An analysis of policy documents of Sverigedemokraterna, previously conducted research and finally an interview conducted by a Swedish anti-racist organization is also included in the case-study. The study shows that the reasons behind immigrant extreme right-wing voting behavior present substantial similarities with other highly represented groups of extreme right-wing voters in that voting is, in line with Realistic Conflict Theory, encouraged by a perceived socio-economic threat emanating from an identified ‘outgroup’. Further, the study validates the assumption of ‘in-’ and ‘outgroup’ identification as being a key issue in determining motives behind extreme right-wing voting. The key explanatory factor of the voting behavior of the studied group indeed shows to be the rejection of an identification with a homogenous group of ‘immigrants’. Finally, the study shows that the rejection of an identification with a homogenous group of ‘immigrants’, removes the theoretical base for assuming that immigrants should be expected to show favorable attitudes towards the group of immigrants in general.

Nordic right wing populism began in Denmark with the requisite growth in the political and societal power of the Danish People’s Party during the Liberal-Conservative coalition government from 2001 to 2011. As the number of immigrants and asylum-seekers from Middle Eastern countries continues to grow, the “other,” the definition of which is a perceived threat against an ill-defined “people,” is increasingly understood by the Danish People’s Party as Muslim immigrants and their descendants. This thesis will use both a wide array of literature and evidence from an original research project using a Danish Prison as a loose microcosm for Danish society. The research traces the influence of the Danish People’s Party on public policy. This thesis will conclude that blatant Islamophobia has seeped into the following sectors of Danish policy: the media, social services and the refugee and asylum system. Denmark, while being an internationally revered example of good governance, represents the dangerous proliferation of illiberalism in the modern, small welfare state in response to globalization.

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iii, 82 p. : ill. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-82).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2003. Graduate Programme in Political Science. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 418-433). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ99263

The diploma thesis deals with the influence of right-wing extremism on the legal order and compares the consequences that activities of right-wing extremists had and have on the law. The basic principles of right-wing extremism, as well as the basic theses on which right-wing extremist ideologies are based, are described in the diploma thesis. The diploma thesis "Right- wing extremism and its legal consequences under Nazism and today" is divided into ten chapters and a conclusion and discusses the manifestations of tribal nationalism in the legal order of Nazi Germany and describes the implementation of Nazi legislation in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The attention is also paid to the development of national particularism, its ideas and to the idea of national exceptionality. However, the idea of national exceptionality puts the unexceptional "others" on the opposite pole of the same axis and subsequently leads to their discrimination and persecution. The law then becomes the perfect tool to discriminate against and persecute these "others". Main attention is thus paid to racial legislation of the Nazi Germany, which were based on conclusions of eugenics "scientists" of the time. The diploma thesis therefore in detail discusses the Nuremberg Laws, as well as other subsequent by-laws,...

The main goal of this paper is to examine the construction and linguistic portrayal of the climate change phenomenon in the right-wing populist parties' discourse. The literature has so far mainly assumed automatic relationship between right- wing ideology and climate-refusal and did not go beyond analysis of specific climate-skeptical parties. We aim to fill this gap in the literature by analyzing both climate-supportive and disengaged RWP parties, as well their communication strategies on the matter. In order to disentangle inconsistencies, paradoxes and contradictions in text and discourse-internal structures, as well as to demystify the possible persuasive or manipulative tendencies of RWP parties, this paper employs a Discourse- Historical Approach in order to examine how these actors transform, translate and modify the meaning and role of a climate change in their texts. Moreover, the focus of our paper is on the three strategies within DHA - nomination, predication and argumentation. The analysis included three RWP parties - Alternative for Germany; Hungarian Fidesz and French National Rally, We found that the three examined parties with different climate policy preferences tend to deploy markedly different manipulative or persuasive strategies, and utilize different rhetorical and...