The ecological correlates of right–wing extremism in Western Europe

Abstract

This study traces the evolution of right-wing extremism, conceptualized as latent electoral support for extreme right-wing parties (i.e., vote intention), in six Western European countries (i.e., Belgium, France, the Netherlands, West Germany, Denmark, and Italy) between 1984 and 1993. Employing a pooled time-series cross-sectional research design, the author examines the relative strength of three popular explanations of contemporary rightwing extremism: the impact of economic conditions (unemployment and inflation), social developments (immigration), and political trends (public's dissatisfaction with the political regime). Evidence is presented in support of the last two explanations. Rising levels of immigration and public dissatisfaction with the political regime significantly facilitate right-wing extremism. Contrary to the initial hypothesis however, results suggest that a declining national economy (unemployment in particular) diminishes the electoral appeal of extreme right-wing parties.

Identity and redistribution

“…However, in contrast to our model, this does not explain why these parties often advocate a low level of redistribution (see for example Betz 1993, Poglia Mileti et al 2002and McGann and Kitschelt 2005. 30 In addition, the empirical evidence on the relationship between support for anti-immigration parties and the level of unemployment is ambiguous (see Knigge 1998 andGolder 2003). 31 …”

“…The in ‡ow of relatively poor immigrants may therefore be part of the explanation for why class voting has declined in Europe during the last decades, as well as why European anti-immigration political parties seem to have gained in popularity. 29 The latter is supported by empirical studies by Knigge (1998) and Golder (2003) showing that the support for anti-immigration parties is indeed increasing in the level of immigration. A competing explanation for the relatively strong support that anti-immigration parties get from the working class is a fear for increased competition in the labor market.…”

“…Since the comparative statics are considerably more complicated if blacks are poorer than whites, without bringing many additional insights, Proposition 4 is only stated for the case when whites and blacks have the same average income. 32 29 Examples of such parties include FPÖ (Austria), Schweizerische Volkspartei (Switzerland), Dansk Folkeparti (Denmark), Vlaams Blok (Belgium), Fremskridtspartiet (Norway) and Front national (France). 30 The political bundling e¤ect in a two-dimensional policy space demonstrated by Roemer (1998) can explain why a voter could vote for a right-wing party although she favors a high degree of redistribution, but not why anti-immigration parties tend to focus on right-wing economic policies in the …rst place.…”

Political support in hard times: Do people care about national welfare?

“…Since a large literature on the relationship between democracy and economy focusses on GDP (e.g Acemoglu & Robinson, 2006;Przeworski, 2000), we use GDP per head as starting point. Our main interest, however, lies in growth, inflation, and unemployment, which vary substantially over time and have been proved influential in previous studies on SWD (Wagner et al, 2009) and right-wing extremism (Knigge, 1998;Brückner & Grüner, 2010). Furthermore, these variables are more responsive to economic policy in the short to medium run and are more likely to be targeted by policy makers.…”

Welfare Chauvinism? Refugee Flows and Electoral Support for Populist-Right Parties in Industrial Democracies

“…In fact, previous studies on this topic have long assumed migration as one of the main causes, but empirical evidence remains mixed. While, Halla et al (2012), Arzheimer (2009), Arzheimer and Carter (2006), Golder (2003) and Knigge (1998) find a positive association between migration and support for populist-right parties, Norris (2005) and Lubbers et al (2002) do not confirm the earlier findings. While a lot of these studies focus on immigrants, what is indeed missing in the current scientific debate is the role of refugees and the causal understanding of the mechanisms through which refugees flows would increase support 1 This controversial advertisement welcoming refugees by Sweden Democrats, a populist-right party is widely cited in the press, see: https://www.rt.com/news/323236-sweden-democrats-refugees-video/ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3317978/Torn-apart-open-door-migrants-Sweden-seen-Europe-s-liberalnation-violent-crime-soaring-Far-Right-march-reports-SUE-REID.html 2 See: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/01/denmark-refugees-immigration-law/431520/ 3 We identify 'populist-right' parties as those which according to the literature are protest, nativist, openly racist, or extremist parties which are anti-immigrant, islamophobic and anti-establishment in their platform.…”