Radical Right-Wing Populism in Western Europe - Softcover

Hans-Georg Betz

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312121954 ISBN 13: 9780312121952

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 1994

Synopsis

During the past several years, society and politics in Western Europe have entered a period of extraordinary turbulence and dramatic change. Alarming levels of mass unemployment, waves of violent skin-head and neo-nazi attacks against socially vulnerable groups, and widespread public disaffection with the political system are symptoms of severe crisis in the post-war Western European settlement.
Radical populist right parties have benefitted more from this crisis than any other political group. Largely relegated to the fringes of Western European politics in the post-war period, right-wing radical and extremist parties have made an impressive comeback to become one of the most significant political phenomena of the 1990s.
Radical Right-Wing Populism in Western Europe offers a comprehensive analysis of the ideologies and programs of these parties, the factors that have contributed to their emergence, and their electoral base. Drawing on a wide range of empirical evidence from eight countries, the author concludes that given the magnitude of the economic, social, and cultural transformation confronting Western Europe's public (and the depth of the malaise that it has engendered), radical right-wing populist parties are bound to play a significant role in West European politics for the foreseeable future.

About this title

About the Author

Hans-Georg Betz is Assistant Professor of European Studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, the Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C.

From Library Journal

A specter is haunting Europe-again! This time it is the specter of radical right-wing movements with their populism, resentments, anti-immigrant phobias, and anti-statism. This comprehensive academic study is an excellent introduction to a phenomenon that has disfigured Western politics in recent years, raising troubling questions about the direction, stability, and, indeed, civility of European society. Betz's study provides a broad, factual, nation-by-nation survey of current movements, an in-depth analysis of the social and political context of right-wing extremism, and a theoretical explanation that focuses on macro-level changes in world capitalism. Accessible to informed lay readers, this book is rec- ommended for academic and larger public libraries.
H. Steck, SUNY at Cortland
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0312121954
• ISBN 13: 9780312121952
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 288