March 27, 2025 | The Rise of the Far Right

Populism as a better far-right description?

In most academic literature on the far-right, scholars argue that current political parties that are seen as far-right are populist, or have populist characteristics. However, is this a fair assessment, and what does it even mean to have populist characteristics? Populism in theory The characteristics of populism can be found in and derived from their policies. These characteristics have been described extensively by scholars such as Akkerman, Mudde, Zaslova, Kriesi and Pappas, to name a few. These characteristics can be broken down into four distinct points. 1) There are two distinct groups in society; the people and the elite. 2)...

Far-Right Narratives

The Anti-Feminist Narrative: Theory vs. Practice

"I believe we are the only party in Germany who is really fighting for women’s rights, because we point out we’re in danger of losing the freedoms and rights of women for which we’ve fought for centuries.” You might assume that this quote is from a left-leaning or progressive German party. In that case, you are mistaken. These words were spoken by Nicole Höchst, member of the German far-right party, Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). Since one of characteristics of the far right is their anti-feminist narrative, this seems contradictory, does it not? I believe the anti-feminist narrative is less well-understood than other...

Far Right in Time and Space

Today’s far right: Fascism 2.0?

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/2/3/far-right-europe-pandemic The increasing popularity of far-right parties in the European political arena fueled a debate among scholars on whether it is worth to draw a parallel between 20th century fascism and today’s far-right parties. Considering the growing importance of these parties, I believe it is interesting to check out the standpoints of different historians in the debate and try to understand which one is the most reasonable. Using the F word: is it a good idea? Certain actions or assertions from the main representatives of the far-right parties that dominate European and global, politics, can spark a déjà vu taking...

Globalization

Early Globalization and the Italian Far-Right in the 1960s and 1970s

Why an historical focus? Timeline to illustrate the historical approachempty timeline - Google Search My attraction for the far-right, and more specifically my interest and curiosity to learn about the latter is unmeasurable. Therefore, I decided to tackle this challenge for the academic year. However, considering how broad the rise of the modern far-right is, and acknowledging the multiple ways to approach the latter made it quite hard to settle and focus only on one specific branch of the topic. For that specific reason, I decided to discuss the roots of the modern far-right. I firstly did so through a...

far-right observer

The populist personality: What character traits describe the far-right voter?

Photo by Nicholas Halland on unsplah.com In the last decade, there has been a vast increase of far-right parties across Europe. These parties were previously considered to be harmless and more of a background character. Whereas these parties nowadays have infiltrated coalition governments in many European countries. The driving force behind these parties is their voters, who helped to break through the glass ceiling. But what drives them? What drives these far-right voters to find solace in these far-right visions? The Big Five Personality Traits Explanations for party choice have typically centered on the voter's socio-demographic status, personal background, or...

Far Right in Time and Space

The end of Spanish ‘exceptionalism’: The rise of Vox in Spain.

Ever since Francisco Franco died in 1975, Spain has never seen a right-wing party gain the electoral success Vox did in 2018. They obtained a total of 11% of votes cast, gaining 12 seats in Andalucia's regional elections. Thus, bringing an end to Spain’s exceptionalism status after more than four decades. This was accelerated in 2019 when Vox broke into the congress of deputies securing 10.26% of the general election vote. One can only wonder how Spain's right-wing electorate is so strong considering its not so distant past under Franco’s dictatorship. Has Spain forgotten what it was like under his...

far-right observer

Why Do European Women Vote For Far-right Parties?

Far-right protesters demanding to stop migration in order to keep women safe and keep their rights in Dresden, Germany. Photo from commons.wikimedia.org In the past decade in elections all over Europe, the proportion of far-right parties has increased enormously. Parties like the Alternative für Deutschland in Germany or the Rassemblement National in France whose values are strongly racist, xenophobic, and anti-feminist experienced unprecedented popularity. Some of these parties were founded only in the past decade and some others like the Front National have a long history in European politics. Something that has changed strikingly is that not only men are...