Exclusion, Community, and a Populist Political Economy: The Radical Right as an Anti-Globalization Movement

Abstract

This article examines the anti-globalization message of three radicalright populist parties: the Austrian Freedom Party, the French NationalFront, and the Italian Lega Nord. Anti-globalization movements havereceived much attention as of late from social scientists andjournalists alike. However, one anti-globalization force that has notreceived adequate scholarly attention is the radical right. Since the1990s, radical right parties have emerged as some of the strongestopponents of neo-liberalism, European integration, and immigration.Radical right parties campaign against the elite nature ofglobalization, arguing that financial and political elites, Americanhegemony, and the growing influence of the European Union destroy thenatural fabric of civil society. The radical right also associatesEuropean integration with the forces of globalization and with a loss ofnational sovereignty. And finally, adopting La Nouvelle Droite's notionof the `right to difference', radical right populist parties associateglobalization with multiculturalism and with overly liberal immigrationpolicies. The article then examines both survey data on Europeansentiments towards neo-liberalism, European integration, and immigrationand public opinion polls that highlight the reason why voters supportradical right parties. I argue that if we closely scrutinize the reasonswhy voters support radical right parties, keeping in mind how these sameparties frame the issue of globalization, it becomes clear how and whythe political message of radical right parties resonates with a smallbut significant portion of the electorate who demonstrate apprehensiontowards economic globalization, European integration, and immigration.Comparative European Politics (2008) 6, 169-189. doi:10.1057/palgrave.cep.6110126