The Populist Radical Right: A Reader (Extremism and Democracy)

The populist radical right is one of the most studied political phenomena in the social sciences, counting hundreds of books and thousands of articles. This is the first reader to bring together the most seminal articles and book chapters on the contemporary populist radical right in western democracies. It has a broad regional and topical focus and includes work that has made an original theoretical contribution to the field, which make them less time-specific. The reader is organized in six thematic sections:

(1) ideology and issues;

(2) parties, organizations, and subcultures;

(3) leaders, members, and voters;

(4) causes;

(5) consequences; and

(6) responses.

Each section features a short introduction by the editor, which introduces and ties together the selected pieces and provides discussion questions and suggestions for further readings. The reader is ended with a conclusion in which the editor reflects on the future of the populist radical right in light of (more) recent political developments – most notably the Greek economic crisis and the refugee crisis – and suggest avenues for future research.

Cas Mudde is Associate Professor in the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) at the University of Georgia, USA, and a Researcher at the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX) at the University of Oslo, Norway.