Understanding Populist Party Organisation: The Radical Right in Western Europe

by Reinhard Heinisch (Editor), Oscar Mazzoleni (Editor)

Overview

Right-wing populist parties are thriving throughout Europe. With few exceptions, political systems have seen such parties make significant electoral gains and shape the national political discourse across the continent. In recent years, many populist parties have undergone leadership changes and other evolutionary challenges to which they adapted well, often contrary to expectations. This timely collection is devoted to understanding how Western European right-wing populist parties organize themselves.

Without understanding the role of the organizational dynamics, we fail to understand how populist parties adapt over time and thus endure. Providing a systematic and comprehensive analysis of organizational issues of populist parties over time, Understanding Populist Party Organisation explores a range of political parties in Western Europe, examining their internal dynamics and questioning whether it is possible to discern or construct a general “populist”party typology of organization and representation.

The book includes chapters on the Austrian Freedom Party, the Vlaams Belang, the Swiss People’s Party, the Lega Nord, the Front National, the Norwegian Progress Party, and the Sweden Democrats.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781349845101
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	09/26/2019
Series:	Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology
Edition description:	1st ed. 2016
Pages:	258
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Reinhard Heinisch is Professor of Political Science at the University of Salzburg, Austria. He also chairs the Department of Sociology and Political Science. His major research interests are comparative populism, euroscepticism, and comparative research on political parties and democracy.

Oscar Mazzoleni is Professor of Political Science at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and Director of the Research Observatory for Regional Politics. His main research topics include nationalism, regionalism, populism and political parties.

Table of Contents

Introduction; Reinhard Heinisch and Oscar Mazzoleni.- 1.The Austrian Freedom Party; Reinhard Heinisch.- 2. The Vlaams Belang; Emilie van Haute and Teun Pauwels.- 3. The Swiss People’s Party; Oscar Mazzoleni and Carolina Rossini.- 4. The Lega Nord; Duncan McDonnell and Davide Vampa.- 5. The French Front National; Gilles Ivaldi and Lisa E. Lanzone.- 6. The Norwegian Progress Party; Anders Ravik Jupskås.- 7. The Sweden Democrats; Ann-Cathrine Jungar.- 8. Comparing Populist Organizations; Reinhard Heinisch and Oscar Mazzoleni