Review article
Radical Right-Wing Parties in Former Communist Countries: Challenges to Liberal Democracy or a Socio-Economic Protest?
Vedran Obućina
; University specialist in comparative politics in Middle and Southeast Europe, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Economic and social crises provide an opportunity for protest parties to raise their voices and to win new positions in the political arena. Many analysts deem that the parties of the radical Right gained momentum exactly with the protests by citizens against globalisation, economic deprivation and the impact of the economic crisis. A more detailed study of the radicalisation of politics reveals that the simplification of this thesis does not have a particularly strong justification. In the absence of clear methodologies, political scientists and other social scientists seek to formulate theories based on empirical research. One of the frequent theoretical frameworks is the attitude of populist parties toward the socio-economic situation in the country. According to this thesis, in the period of a global crisis, the percentage of voters of radical political options increases, mostly out of protest, and not as an anti-systemic phenomenon. This paper also examines the situation in Central Europe, as well as the outcomes of this year's elections in Hungary, Latvia and Slovakia as countries with a strong radical Right. By analysing the cases of these countries, the author seeks to establish whether the socio-economic theory can be applied, or whether these countries are facing greater challenges to liberal democracy posed by the far-right pole.
Keywords
radical right-wing parties; political systems of Central Europe; protest parties; socio-economic approaches to the study of politics
Hrčak ID:
77760
URI
Publication date:
31.1.2012.
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