The wrong and the right: A comparative analysis of 'anti-immigration' and 'far right' parties

Government and Opposition

Volumn 46, Issue 3, 2011, Pages 293-320

  van Spanje, Joost ^a  

^a NONE

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 79958152772     PISSN: 0017257X     EISSN: 14777053     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1477-7053.2011.01340.x     Document Type: Article

References (81)

1. Michael GallagherMichael Laver and Peter Mair, Representative Government in Modern Europe, 4th edn, Boston, McGraw-Hill2006
2. Cas MuddeThe Ideology of the Extreme RightManchester, Manchester University Press2000
3. Cas MuddePopulist Radical Right Parties in EuropeCambridge, Cambridge University Press2007
4. Piero Ignazi,The Silent Counter-Revolutionypotheses on the Emergence of Extreme Right-Wing Parties in Europe', European Journal of Political Research22319923-34
5. Piero IgnaziExtreme Right Parties in Western Europe, Oxford, Oxford University Press2003
6. Herbert Kitschelt and Anthony McGann, The Radical Right in Western Europe: A Comparative Analysis, Ann Arbor, University of Michigan1995
7. Klaus von BeymeRight-Wing Extremism in Post-War EuropeWest European Politics11219881-18
8. Tor Bjørklund and Jørgen Goul Andersen, 'Anti-Immigration Parties in Denmark and Norway', in M. Schain, A. Zolberg and P. Hossay (eds), Shadows Over Europe: The Development and Impact of the Extreme Right in Western Europe, Houndmills, Palgrave Macmillan2002
9. Meindert FennemaSome Conceptual Issues and Problems in the Comparison of Anti-Immigrant Parties in Western Europe1997473-92
10. Rachel GibsonThe Growth of Anti-Immigrant Parties in Western Europe, Lewiston, NY, Edwin Mellen Press2002
11. Wouter Van der Brug, Meindert Fennema and
12. Jean Tillie'Why Some Anti-Immigrant Parties Fail and Others Succeed: A Two-Step Model of Aggregate Electoral Support', Comparative Political Studies3852005537-73
13. These parties have also been classified on the basis of other characteristics, such as populism (Hans-Georg Betz, Radical Right-Wing Populism in Western Europe, London, Macmillan, 1994; Hans-Georg Betz, 'Conditions Favouring the Success and Failure of Radical Right-Wing Populist Parties in Contemporary Democracies', in Y. Mény and Y. Surel (eds), Democracies and the Populist Challenge, London, Palgrave, 2002; Reinhard Heinisch, 'Success in Opposition: Failure in Government: Explaining the Performance of Right-Wing Populist Parties in Public Office', West European Politics263200391-130
14. Elisabeth Ivarsflaten, 'The Vulnerable Populist Right Parties: No Economic Realignment Fuelling Their Electoral Success', European Journal of Political Research4432005465-92
15. Elisabeth Ivarsflaten'What Unites Right-Wing Populists in Western Europe Re-Examining Grievance Mobilization Models in Seven Successful Cases', Comparative Political Studies41120083-23
16. Paul TaggartNew Populist Parties in Western EuropeWest European Politics, 18199534-51
17. nationalism (cf. Mudde, Populist Radical Right Parties), or the ethnic basis of their mobilisation (C. Wendt, 'Toward a Majoritarian Mobilization Model for Western Europe: Explaining Changes in Far Right Vote Support', paper presented at APSA Annual Meeting, ). The question of to what extent parties can be classified on the basis of these traits falls beyond the scope of this paper, however2003
18. Notable exceptions to the rule of absence of conceptual clarity include the most recent contribution from Cas Mudde (Populist Radical Right Parties
19. Gallagher et al.,Representative Government
20. Mudde, Populist Radical Right Parties12
21. Von Beyme,Right-Wing Extremism in Post-War Europe3
22. For arguments pro and contra the inclusion of the AN in research on far right/anti-immigration parties, see, e.g. Elizabeth Carter, The Extreme Right in Western Europe, Manchester, Manchester University Press
23. Marcel LubbersExclusionistic ElectoratesExtreme Right-Wing Voting in Western Europe, Nijmegen, ICS Dissertations2001
24. Wouter Van der BrugMeindert Fennema and Jean Tillie, 'Anti-Immigrant Parties in Europe: Ideological or Protest Vote', European Journal of Political Research371200077-102
25. Gary King, Robert O. Keohane and Sidney VerbaDesigning Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research, Princeton, Princeton University Press199491-4
26. The literature meant here are studies that revolve around the research question of why a new class of party has emerged in Western democracies
27. Carter, The Extreme Right in Western Europe9
28. King et al., Designing Social Inquiry8
29. Mudde, Populist Radical Right Parties33
30. Carter, The Extreme Right in Western Europe8-9
31. Kitschelt and McGann, The Radical Right in Western Europe44
32. Sarah De LangeA New Winning Formula The Programmatic Appeal of the Radical Right', Party Politics1342007411-35
33. Kitschelt and McGannThe Radical Right in Western Europe; Mudde, Populist Radical Right Parties
34. Wouter Van der Brug, 'Where's the Party Voters' Perceptions of Party Positions', unpublished PhD thesis, Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam1997
35. Cees Van der Eijk and Mark N. Franklin, Choosing Europe The European Electorate and National Politics in the Face of Union, Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, ; Van der Brug et al., 'Anti-Immigrant Parties in Europe1996
36. Lubbers, Exclusionistic Electorates; Pippa Norris, The Radical Right: Voters and Parties in the Electoral Market, New York and Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2005. The case selection employed by both Lubbers and Norris implies a dynamic (as opposed to time-invariant) classification of these parties. Parties can meet the criteria at some point in time, while failing to meet them at another point in time. Interestingly, neither of the authors explicitly mentions this. The possibility of a dynamic description has been suggested before, for example by Gunther and Diamond, who almost casually hint at it (Richard Gunther and Larry Diamond, 'Species of Political Parties: A New Typology', Party Politics, 9: 2 (2003), pp. 167-99). This is remarkable, as a dynamic definition constitutes a major breakaway from the traditional view of the 'party family' (e.g. Peter Mair and Cas Mudde, 'The Party Family and its Study', Annual Review of Political Science, 1 (1998), pp. 211-29). It could be argued that, when it comes to these parties, the idea of the party family has become obsolete. After all, the concept of the party family is based on the notion that parties that start off in a specific tradition, such as social democratic parties, have remained loyal to their past and have not undergone marked changes. As soon as there are parties that do change - for instance, because they reposition themselves on a particular issue in response to changes in preferences among voters - the notion of the 'party family' loses part of its value. In the case of the parties under study, this is especially problematic, as Van der Brug and Fennema (Wouter Van der Brug and Meindert Fennema, 'Protest or Mainstream How the European Anti-Immigrant Parties Developed into Two Separate Groups by 1999', European Journal of Political Research, 42: 1 (2003), pp. 55-76) point out, because these parties are more 'modern' than many other parties in terms of how they attract voters. The traditional socio-structural factors do not play any dominant role in the vote for anti-immigration parties (ibid.), which renders the value of the notion of the 'party family' concerning these parties even more questionable than regarding other parties. This is because the idea of the party family typically presupposes that specific socio-economic groups tend to support particular parties. Scholars who developed the metaphor of the party family (Daniel-Louis Seiler, 'De la classification des partis politiques', Res Publica,Klaus von Beyme, Political Parties in Western European Democracies, Aldershot, Gower, 1985) based their categorization on Lipset and Rokkan's cleavage model (Seymour Martin Lipset and Stein Rokkan, Party Systems and Voter Alignments, New York, Free Press, 1967), which builds, above all, on socio-economic divides (see Mair and Mudde, 'The Party Family and its Study').271198559-86
37. Lubbers, Exclusionistic Electorates226
38. In this regular mail survey (N = 288, response rate = 52% after one reminder), a scale was presented to the experts, above which the question read: 'Would you please place the following parties on the left-right dimension below. The scale has a minimum value of zero (very left) and a maximum of 10 (very right), with a mean of 5. Could you please mark with a narrow line and the letter of the concerning party . its position on the scale below. You may place the party anywhere on the continuum' (Lubbers, Exclusionistic Electorates34
39. Again, the experts were to indicate each party on a scale: 'Please, consider the same parties, and place them now on the following scale. This scale concerns the programmes of the parties towards the immigration issue, which runs from not very restrictive concerning immigration (0) to very restrictive (10)' (Lubbers, Exclusionistic Electorates34)
40. Francis Castles and Peter Mair, 'Left-Right Political Scales: Some "Expert" Judgments', European Journal of Political Research, 12 (1984), pp. 73-88; Michael Laver and W. Ben Hunt, Policy and Party Competition, New York, Routledge, 1992; John Huber and Ronald Inglehart, 'Expert Interpretations of Party Space and Party Locations in 42 Societies', Party Politics, 1 (1995), pp. 73-111; Leonard Ray and Hanne Marthe Narud, 'Mapping the Norwegian Political Space: Results from an Expert Survey', Party Politics621999225-39
41. Lubbers, Exclusionistic Electorates; Kenneth Benoit and Michael Laver, Party Policy in Modern Democracies, London, Routledge, 2006; Michael Laver and Peter Mair, 'Party Policy and Cabinet Portfolios in the Netherlands, 1998: Results from an Expert Survey', Acta Politica(1999), pp. 49-66; Joost Van Spanje, Peter Mair, Cees Van der Eijk and Wouter Van der Brug, 'Expert Survey Concerning Political Parties in Western Democracies', unpublished manuscript, European University Institute2006341
42. Peter MairSearching for the Positions of Political ActorsA Review of Approaches and a Critical Evaluation of Expert Surveys', in M. Laver (ed.), Estimating the Policy Positions of Political Actors, London and New York2001
43. Mair, 'Searching for the Positions of Political Actors
44. I am indebted to Wouter van der Brug for pointing this out
45. Benoit and Laver, Party Policy in Modern Democracies71-7
46. The exception to this rule is the FPÖ, which was founded in 1956. However, the takeover by Mr Haider 30 years later so radically changed the party's ideological position as well as its stance on immigration issues that it is safe to say that at the time of measurement the party was completely different from the one founded in 1956 (cf. Max Riedlsperger, 'The Freedom Party of Austria: From Protest to Radical Right Populism', in H.-G. Betz and S. Immerfall (eds), The New Politics of the Right: Neo-Populist Parties and Movements in Established Democracies, New York, S. Martin's Press1998
47. Castles and Mair, 'Left-Right Political Scales'; Laver and Hunt, Policy and Party Competition; Huber and Inglehart, 'Expert Interpretations of Party Space and Party Locations'; Ray and Narud, 'Mapping the Norwegian Political Space'; Lubbers, Exclusionistic Electorates; Benoit and Laver, Party Policy in Modern Democracies; Laver, 'Party Policy and Cabinet Portfolios in the Netherlands'; Michael J. Laver, 'Party Policy in Britain 1997: Results from an Expert Survey', Political Studies4621998336-47
48. Laver and Mair, 'Party Policy and Cabinet Portfolios in the Netherlands
49. Note that, of the 30 selected parties, the majority (18) have been judged only once. Thus, the stability of their ideological position is open to question. Only a dozen parties have consistently been judged 'far right' multiple times. For 10 of these 12 parties, it is clear whether or not they were anti-immigration throughout the period under study. Seven were anti-immigration, whereas three (30%) were not. The figure of 30% is close to the figure found for all 30 parties (36%). Thus, restricting the case selection to those parties that were judged multiple times does not substantially change my conclusions
50. See e.g. Colin Seymour-Ure, The Political Impact of Mass Media, London, Constable197499-136
51. Fennema, 'Some Conceptual Issues and Problems
52. Meindert Fennema and Wouter Van der Brug, 'The Rise of Pim Fortuyn in European and Historical Perspective', paper presented at ECPR Joint Sessions of Workshops, at Nicosia2006
53. S. MitraThe National Front in FranceA Single-Issue Movement', West European Politics112198847-64
54. Cas Mudde, 'The Single-Issue Party Thesis: Extreme Right Parties and the Immigration Issue', West European Politics2231999182-97
55. Kitschelt and McGannThe Radical Right in Western EuropeVan der Brug and Fennema, 'Protest or Mainstream
56. Ivarsflaten, 'What Unites Right-Wing Populists in Western Europe'; Jean Tillie and Meindert Fennema, 'A Rational Choice for the Extreme Right', Acta Politica3331998223-49
57. Frank Elbers and Meindert Fennema, Racistische partijen in West-Europa. Tussen nationale traditie en Europese samenwerking, Leiden, Stichting Burgerschapskunde/Nederlands Centrum voor Politieke Vorming, my translation199380
58. Pascal DelwitJean-Michel De Waele and Andrea Rea, 'Les étapes de l'extrême droite en Belgique', in P. Delwit, J.-M. De Waele and A. Rea (eds), L'Extrême droite en France et en Belgique, Brussels, Éditions complexe, 1998; Carter, The Extreme Right in Western Europe32
59. Mudde, Populist Radical Right Parties14
60. Mudde, Populist Radical Right Parties13-14
61. Fennema, 'Some Conceptual Issues and Problems
62. e.g. Benoit and Laver, Party Policy in Modern Democracies
63. David RobertsonA Theory of Party Competition, London, Wiley1976
64. That is, if it is a 'position issue', such as immigration restriction, and not a 'valence issue' (Donald Stokes, 'Spatial Models of Party Competition', in A. Campbell, P. E. Converse, W. E. Miller and D. Stokes (eds), Elections and the Political Order, New York, John Wiley and Sons, ). For valence issues, what counts is to what extent a party stresses the issue1966
65. The fact that Lubbers asked experts in about the situation 10 years earlier is a reason to be very cautious in interpreting these data. I use these in view of the absence of other data2000
66. Lubbers, Exclusionistic Electorates; Van Spanje et al., 'Expert Survey Concerning Political Parties in Western Democracies'. In this email survey (N = 557, response rate = 39% after one reminder), the immigration restriction position question asked by Lubbers was replicated
67. Benoit and LaverParty Policy in Modern Democracies. Unlike Lubbers and Van Spanje et al., Benoit and Laver equate immigrants with asylum seekers, and ask about immigration and immigrant integration in one question. These slight differences with the question asked by Lubbers and replicated by Van Spanje et al., do not seem to make any substantial difference to the party placements (see Table
68. Benoit and Laver, Party Policy in Modern Democracies
69. Other parties that have contested national-level elections, such as the National Movement (NB) in Luxembourg, and the Sjöbo Party (SjP) and Skane Party (SkaP) in Sweden, may be anti-immigration as well. However, no adequate data were available on the basis of which these parties could be classified as immigration or not. More research should be carried out on these parties in order to assess if they were (NB) or are (SjP, SkaP) anti-immigration
70. Benoit and LaverParty Policy in Modern Democracies.
71. See Mair and Mudde, 'The Party Family and its Study
72. Carter, The Extreme Right in Western Europe, p. 9; Lubbers, Exclusionistic Electorates; Van der Brug and Fennema, 'Protest or Mainstream
73. Matthew GolderExplaining Variation in the Success of Extreme Right Parties in Western Europe Comparative Political Studies3642003432-66
74. Lubbers, Exclusionistic Electorates, p. 30; Piero Ignazi, 'From Neo-Fascists to Post-Fascists The Transformation of the MSI into the AN', West European Politics1941996693-714
75. James L. NewellItalyThe Extreme Right Comes in from the ColdParliamentary Affairs5332000469-85
76. Ignazi, 'From Neo-Fascists to Post-Fascists
77. Huber and InglehartExpert Interpretations of Party Space and Party LocationsLubbers, Exclusionistic Electorates; and Benoit and Laver, Party Policy in Modern Democracies.
78. Kurt Richard LutherAustria: A Democracy under Threat from the Freedom Party', Parliamentary Affairs5332000426-42
79. Jens RydgrenExplaining the Emergence of Radical Right-Wing Populist Parties: The Case of Denmark', West European Politics2732004474-503
80. Another way to avoid contamination of findings by the categorisation of parties is to check the robustness of results to alternative classifications. Sensitivity analyses do not necessarily solve all the problems associated with a lack of precise definitions, however - unless the findings are checked for the entire universe of possible party categorisations, which is unlikely
81. Joost H. P. Van SpanjeContagious PartiesAnti-Immigrant Parties and their Impact on Other Parties' Immigration Stances in Contemporary Western Europe', Party Politics1652010563-86