Between party and movement: conceptual and empirical considerations of the radical right’s organizational boundaries and mobilization processes

ABSTRACT

The article seeks to contribute to the conceptual and comparative debate with its focus on political parties by approaching the topic through the logic of collective action. Starting from an ideologically centered definition of right-wing radicalism, it conceptualizes the radical right in liberal democracies as a collective actor with different ideological as well as organizational manifestations, the latter most notably in party or movement forms. The article argues that unlike other movement-party linkages, which build on clear typological distinctions between parties and movement, radical right parties almost by definition exhibit movement characteristics in that they continuously engage in ‘contentious politics’. Empirical evidence will be drawn from member states of the EU to illustrate the argument. It will be further argued that in the interaction between radical right parties and movements in Western democracies, movements endure where radical right parties remain marginal. In other words, to the extent that radical right parties maintain their movement qualities and become electorally successful, movement mobilization on the far right is inhibited. This ‘Western’ pattern is contrasted by patterns in Eastern Europe, where more porous borders between radical right parties and movements exist along with symbiotic interactions.

KEYWORDS:

• Radical right movements
• movement parties
• mobilization
• interaction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 The author wants to thank the editors and the two anonymous reviewers for their many helpful comments and suggestions.

2 Whether radical right movements also exhibit ‘party qualities’, as suggested by the editors, and what this may entail beyond politicizing particular issues, cannot be discussed here.

3 Notwithstanding the history of Islam in parts of Europe in the Middle Ages and during the Ottoman occupation of South-Eastern Europe, Islam is treated as ‘exterior’ to the religious landscape of the countries under consideration because with the exception of Bulgaria, it has not been present in relevant size in these countries during the processes of nation-building and democratization (see Pagden 2002; Hurd 2006).

4 There is disagreement in radical right scholarship whether to include the Norwegian Progress Party in the radical right camp, as outlined above (see Mudde 2007: 47). The same goes for the (True) Finns.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michael Minkenberg

Michael Minkenberg is Professor of Comparative Politics at European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. His research interests include the radical right in liberal democracies, the relationship between religion and politics in Western societies, and, most recently, the politics of architecture in capital cities. He published on these topics in journals such as Comparative Political Studies, West European Politics, Comparative European Politics, International Political Science Review, and the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies; his most recent book publication is The Radical Right in Eastern Europe: Democracy under Siege? (Palgrave 2017).