Depleting democracy? The radical right’s impact on minority politics in Eastern Europe

Abstract

Radical right parties’ calls for a strong and illiberal nation-state have travelled across the political spectrum into the mainstream in Eastern Europe since the 2000s, contributing to a rightward shift in the region’s politics. The mechanisms behind such influences in Eastern Europe are not yet fully understood. Focusing on the strength of radical right parties and mainstream parties’ strategic reactions to them, this study explores how and under what circumstances radical right parties exert influence on mainstream parties’ general political positions and on their positions concerning ethnic and national minorities – a group frequently targeted by radical right intolerance in the region. Shifts in parties’ positions are analyzed using comparative data from the Chapel Hill Expert Survey and the authors’ own Viadrina Expert Survey. The study finds that where mainstream parties formally or informally cooperated with radical right parties or coopted their agenda, lasting rightward position shifts are observable. Consequently, the authors argue that by contributing to rightward shifts, especially on positions concerning minorities, radical right parties play a role in undermining liberal democratic values, thus contributing to the ‘depletion of democracy’.

Pariahs or Partners?

“…More recently, scholars have devoted increasing attention to the impact of radical right parties on politics and society (Williams 2006;W. M. Downs 2012;Minkenberg 2015aMinkenberg , 2015bPytlas and Kossack 2015;Minkenberg et al 2021), including their participation in government in Western European democracies (Minkenberg 2001;Bale 2003;Heinisch 2003;Akkerman 2012;Akkerman and Lange 2012;Zaslove 2012). It took about a decade before researchers also started paying attention to radical right parties in the new democracies of Central and Eastern Europe (Ramet 1999;Beichelt and Minkenberg 2002;Mudde 2005b) and yet another decade for more comprehensive comparative studies to emerge (Minkenberg 2009(Minkenberg , 2015bPirro 2016Pirro , 2017Pytlas 2016;Minkenberg et al 2021).…”

“…Minkenberg and several co-authors, for instance, develop a model (see Fig. 1) for assessing the impact of radical right parties on other parties' policy positions, the political culture, and the quality of democracy, focusing in particular on processes of interaction between radical right parties and their competitors (Minkenberg 2015a(Minkenberg , 2017Minkenberg et al 2021; see also Meguid 2005Meguid , 2008. The model does not distinguish between electoral and post-electoral party competition, such as government formation (Benoit and Laver 2006, chap. 2), but it does highlight the general importance of mainstream parties' strategic reactions to the radical right.…”

“…At the same time, however, these results highlight the need for further enquiry because they cover only a limited number of instances of government formation in the region (Fagerholm 2021). The model of party competition with the radical right in Central and Eastern Europe introduced in Chapter 1 also suggests that party-level electoral characteristics and policy preferences, as well as structurelevel cultural factors and party system configurations, can affect the participation of radical right parties in government (Minkenberg et al 2021; see Figure 1.1). Thus, it corresponds with literature on government formation, which also points to the relevance of these factors in Central and Eastern Europe (see Chapter 3, esp.…”

“…Second, political parties in Central and Eastern Europe often lack detailed programmatic documents, particularly in the early years of the post-Communist transformation. For these reasons, this study, like others in the field (Pirro 2016;Pytlas 2016;Minkenberg et al 2021), draws on expert surveys to determine the positions of radical right parties and formateurs. Following Kitschelt's (2007Kitschelt's ( , 1081 recommendation, the quantitative expert survey data will be supplemented by a qualitative assessment of party positions based on secondary literature.…”

“…In the past three decades, radical right parties have thus had the opportunity to directly influence political developments from the highest public office in many Central and Eastern European countries. Moreover, when radical right parties participate in government, this indirectly impacts national party systems by shifting the policy positions and narratives of their competitors to the right-even after they have left office (Pytlas and Kossack 2015;Pytlas 2016;Minkenberg et al 2021). In light of these facts, the present study seeks to answer the following research question: What explains the government participation of radical right parties in Central and Eastern Europe in the first three decades after the fall of Communism?…”