WHAT ACCOUNTS FOR THE STAYING POWER OF RADICAL RIGHT-WING POPULIST PARTIES IN WESTERN EUROPE?

Radical right-wing populist parties have been around since the 1980s. Once dismissed as “flash parties” they have proven remarkably resilient. In fact, some of these parties – such as the parties formerly known as the Front national and the Lega Nord – are among the most oldest still existing parties in their respective party systems. What might explain this resilience? I propose to start on the individual level, focusing on the role of emotions, such as anger, resentment, frustration, and particularly nostalgia. The argument is that emotions serve as intermediaries between macro-structural developments, such as globalization and technological innovation and individual electoral choices – in this case for parties on the radical right.