Far Right in Time and Space

Reflection on teamwork

Managed team in office meeting at tabletop view vector illustration. Teamwork concept. The team at table office, meeting and management brainstorming Working as a team to give life to this blog was an undoubtedly stimulating and challenging experience. We here reflect on the way we worked together to reach our goal of writing a blog about the development of fascism and the current reality of far-right parties in Europe. In particular, we will explain how we chose the members of this team, we will present how we organized the work, what we liked about working in a team, the difficulties...
Far Right in Time and Space

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 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...
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 in Time and Space

Sverigedemokraterna: how to label them and why?

Jimmie Åkesson - Leader of SD (theconversation.com, 2018) How did a party go from a 2,93% result in the 2006 Swedish general election to reaching as far up as 17,53% in the latest general election, in 2018? That is the principal question being asked by academics when reflecting on the rise of the Swedish far-right political party, the Sverigedemokraterna (the Sweden Democrats). SD's Establishment and Growth The party itself has existed since early 1988, yet its rise into prominence on the Swedish political stage only began taking place towards the beginning of the 2010's. How could this be? What role...