Far-right Parties in Government

• In Event: The Far Right in Government and Society

Abstract

Far-right parties, known for their vehemently anti-immigration positions, have participated in 21 national governments since 1994. The number of recent elections after which far-right parties joined governments, including the 2017 Austrian and Norwegian elections, means it is important to revisit whether or not governing benefits the far right.

In the existing literature, some studies have pointed to the negative impact of governing on the far right and to these parties’ lack of success while governing, such as Heinisch (2003). On the other hand, some studies have argued that there is not necessarily a negative impact of governing (e.g. Bolleyer et al. 2012). McDonnell and Newell (2011) note that any small, relatively inexperienced party could be negatively affected by governing and that we need to examine how the far right fares after multiple times in office. Albertazzi and McDonnell (2015) do this, considering the Italian Lega Nord and the Swiss Schweizerische Volkspartei (People’s Party) after multiple rounds of governing and concluding that many predictions of far-right demise have been overstated.

This paper builds on the work of Albertazzi and McDonnell (2015) to consider additional parties and the past several years of far-right parties in government, arguing that far-right parties can survive, and even thrive, after governing. While Albertazzi and McDonnell examine several internal factors, such as party organization and the ability to achieve policy goals, and the satisfaction of far-right party members, this paper focuses more on voters, and in particular, far-right parties’ electoral successes and public perceptions.

Author

• Kimberly Twist, San Diego State University