As Europe enters a significant phase of re-integration of East and West, it faces an increasing problem with the rise of far-right political parties. Cas Mudde offers the first comprehensive and truly pan-European study of populist radical right parties in Europe. He focuses on the parties themselves, discussing them both as dependent and independent variables. Based upon a wealth of primary and secondary literature, this book offers critical and original insights into three major aspects of European populist radical right parties: concepts and classifications; themes and issues; and explanations for electoral failures and successes. It concludes with a discussion of the impact of radical right parties on European democracies, and vice versa, and offers suggestions for future research.

Cas Mudde is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at the University of Antwerp. He is the author of The Ideology of the Extreme Right (2000) and the editor of Racist Extremism in Central and Eastern Europe (2005).

Introduction; Part I. Concepts: 1. Constructing a conceptual framework; 2. From conceptualization to classification: which parties?; Part II. Issues: 3. Who's afraid of ... ?; 4. Männerparteien; 5. It's not the economy, stupid!; 6. Populist radical right democracy; 7. 'Europe for the Europeans'; 8. Globalization: the multi-faced enemy; Part III. Explanations: 9. Demand: in search of the perfect breeding ground; 10. External supply-side: political opportunity structures; 11. Internal supply-side: the populist radical right party; 12. Assessing impact: populist radical right parties vs. European democracies; 13. Conclusions.