Extreme Right Parties & Voters in Europe & Germany

The Extreme Right (aka Far Right, Populist Right, Anti-Immigrant Right …)

in Western Europe has been a main focus for my research since the 1990s. Over the last decades, I have published a monograph (in German) and numerous articles and book chapters on the subject. I’ve posted pre-prints for most of them here, with replication data available from my dataverse. I also blog regularly on the subject and comment on twitter. Last, not least, I maintain an extensive bibliography on the Extreme Right.

The Extreme Right Vote: Contextual Effects

I’m very much interested in the impact of contextual factors on the Extreme Right vote. This includes not only unemployment and immigration, but also the policy agenda of other parties. My main finding is that talking about immigration (even in positive tones) seems to help the Extreme Right. I’m also interested in the competition between the Extreme Right and Socialist/Social Democratic parties.

The Local Extreme Right Vote

Contextual effects are often studied at the global (national) level, but we all know that politics are local. I have an longstanding interest in how local conditions affect the Extreme Right Vote (and how one can should oneself trying to study this nexus). This was also the topic of a wonderful large comparative project on sub-national context and radical right support in Europe.

The Radical Right in Germany

While my main perspective in the Radical Right is comparative, I have a long-standing interest in German far-right parties and their voters. Much of what I have written about parties such as the Republikaner, the DVU, and the NPD is now of historical interest, but here is a more recent overview paper that looks at far-right voting in post-war Germany since the 1950s (in German). And if you are feeling nerdy, there are lots of older blogs on the NPD.

In terms of electoral politics, however, Alternative for Germany is currently the only relevant player, and so they have become a main focus of my research.