Jonathan Polk
Professor
Still Blurry? : Economic Salience, Position, and Voting for Radical Right Parties in Western Europe
Author
Summary, in English
Do radical right parties present blurry economic stances, or have they clarified their positions while moving towards the economic left? This article questions the strategic behaviour of radical right parties in Western Europe. It shows that although radical right parties have increased their discussion of economic issues, and expert placements of this party family on the economic dimension have become more centrist over time, the uncertainty surrounding these placements continues to be higher for the radical right than any other party family in Europe. The article then moves on to examine to what extent voter-party congruence on redistribution, immigration and other issues of social lifestyle predict an individual's propensity to vote for the radical right compared to other parties. Although redistribution is the component of economic policy where the radical right seems to be centrist, the findings indicate that it remains party-voter congruence on immigration that drives support for radical right parties, while the congruence level for redistribution has an insignificant effect. The article concludes that while radical right parties seem to have included some clearly left-leaning economic proposals, which shifted the general expert views of these parties to the economic centre, their overall economic profiles remain as blurry as ever.
Publishing year
2020
Language
English
Pages
248-268
Publication/Series
European Journal of Political Research
Volume
59
Issue
2
Full text
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Wiley
Topic
- Political Science
Keywords
- political parties
- radical right
- blurring
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0304-4130