ORIGINAL ARTICLE
A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON THE CONDITIONS FOR THE RISE OF FAR-RIGHT PARTIES IN SCANDINAVIA
 
 
More details
Hide details
1
Political Science, Upper Iowa University, USA
 
 
Submission date: 2020-03-27
 
 
Final revision date: 2020-05-24
 
 
Acceptance date: 2020-05-26
 
 
Publication date: 2020-06-30
 
 
Corresponding author
Andris Zimelis   

Political Science, Upper Iowa University, USA
 
 
Economic and Regional Studies 2020;13(2):233-244
 
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Subject and purpose of work: This article analyzes the factors depicted in the literature as essential for the emergence of far-right parties and assesses the importance of unemployment, immigration and political establishments in the failures of the far-right wing parties in Sweden and Finland in early 2000s. Materials and methods: Multi-methods approach is used in this study including case studies and a novel technique based on Boolean algebra. Results: The findings of this paper lead to the conclusion that the correlation between unemployment rates and the electoral strength of far-right parties is weak and does not support simplistic thesis such as high unemployment leads to extremism. Moreover, despite objectively favorable conditions in terms of high immigration rates, the presence of non-European immigrants in a country does not in itself explain the emergence of far-right parties. Conclusions: The study points to the importance of political factors such as the differences between the mainstream parties and tackling the immigration issue by the Liberal Party in Sweden and the wide ideological span of the coalition government and the role of Finland’s special relationship with the USSR that militated against the emergence of far-right parties in these countries.
PEER REVIEW INFORMATION
Article has been screened for originality
iThenticate
 
REFERENCES (48)
1.
Anderson, C. (1996). Economics, Politics and Foreigners: Populist Party Support in Denmark and Norway. Electoral Studies, 15, 497-511.
 
2.
Arter, D. (2003). From the “Rainbow Coalition” Back Down to “Red Earth”? The 2003 Finnish General Election. West European Politics, 26(3), 153-162.
 
3.
Barber, B. (1995). Jihad vs. McWorld. New York: Ballantine Books.
 
4.
BBCa (2002). The Rise of the European right. Apr. 22. BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/engli... (accessed: August 15, 2019).
 
5.
BBCb (2002). Le Pen Vote Shocks Europe. Apr. 22. BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/engli... (accessed: August 20, 2019).
 
6.
BBCc (2002). Swedish left wins re-election. Sep. 16. BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/eur... (accessed: July 23, 2019).
 
7.
BBCd (2003). Opposition wins Finnish poll. Mar. 17. BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/eur.... (accessed: September 19, 2019).
 
8.
BBCe (2010). Sweden Country Profile. Sept. 23. BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/eur... (accessed: September 20, 2019).
 
9.
BBCf (2010). Sweden baffled - but rise of the right was obvious. Sep. 20, 2010. BBC News. http://www.bbc.co.u/news/world... (accessed: September 21, 2019).
 
10.
Betz, H-G. (1994). Radical Right Wing Populism in Western Europe. New York: St. Martin’s.
 
11.
Betz, H-G., Immerfall, S. (1998). The new politics of the right: Neopopulist Parties and Movements in Eestablished Ddemocracies. New York: St. Martins.
 
12.
Braun, A., Scheinberg., S. (eds.) (1997). The Extreme Right: Freedom and Security at Risk. Boulder: Westview Press.
 
13.
CNNa. France Decides. May 2, 2002. CNN News. http://europe.cnn.com/SPECIALS... (accessed: September 16, 2010).
 
14.
CNNb. The Changing Face of Europe. Nov, 14, 2001. CNN News. http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/20... (accessed: August 22, 2019).
 
15.
CNNc. Attacks Play into Le Pen’s hands. Apr. 27, 2002. CNN News. http://europe.cnn.com/2002/WOR... (accessed: August 21, 2019).
 
16.
CNNd. Persson: They can trust us. Sep. 12, 2002. CNN News. http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/... (accessed: September 23, 2019).
 
17.
Eatwell, R. (2000). The Rebirth of the “Extreme Right” in Western Europe? Parliamentary Affairs, 53, 407-425.
 
18.
Ebata, M. (1997). Right-Wing Extremism: In Search of a Definition, in Braun, A., & Scheinberg., S. eds, The Extreme Right: Freedom and Security at Risk. Boulder: Westview Press.
 
19.
Economist (2002). On top, as usual. Sep. 21, 2002, 364 (8291), 48.
 
20.
Edelman, M. (1988). Constructing the political spectacle. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
 
21.
Eduskunta (2006). The Finnish Parliament. http://www.eduskunta.fi/ (accessed: August 11, 2018).
 
22.
EUMC (2006). European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia. http://www.eumc.at/eumc/index.... (accessed: August 18, 2019).
 
23.
Eurostat (2006). European Commmission. http://europa.eu.int/comm/euro... (accessed: August 11, 2019).
 
24.
Folkpartiet (2006). The Liberal Party. http://www.folkpartiet.se/fp/p... (accessed: August 14, 2018).
 
25.
Givens, T. (2000). The Role of Socio-economic Variables in the Success of Radical Right Parties. University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Political Science.
 
26.
Harris, G. (1996). The Dark Side of Europe. The Extreme Right Today. Savage: Barnes & Nobles.
 
27.
Helsingin Sanomat (2006). International Edition. Mar. 25, 2003. “Tony Halme’s success came as no surprise to some.” Helsinki Sanomat. http://www.helsinki-hs.net/new... (accessed: August 14, 2019).
 
28.
Ignazi, P. (1992). The Silent Counter-Revolution: Hypotheses on the Emergence of Extreme-right Parties in Europe. European Journal of Political Research, 22, 3-34.
 
29.
Ignazi, P. (2003). Extreme Right Parties in Western Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
 
30.
Kaplan, J. (1999). The Finnish New Radical Right in Comparative Perspective in Pekonen, K, ed. 1999. The New Radical Right in Finland. Jyväskylä: Kopijyvä.
 
31.
Karapin, R. (1998). Radical Right and Neo-Fascist Political Parties in Western Europe. Comparative Politics, 30 (2), 213-234.
 
32.
Kingdon, J. (1995). Agendas, alternatives, and public policies. New York: HarperCollins College Publishers.
 
33.
Kitschelt, H. (1995). The Radical Right in Western Europe: A Comparative Analysis. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
 
34.
Lubbers, M., Gijsberts, M., Scheepers, P. (2002). Extreme Right-wing Voting in Western Europe. European Journal of Political Research, 41, 345-378.
 
35.
Martin, L. (1997). The Beast Reawakens. Toronto: Little, Brown and Company.
 
36.
Mayer, N., Perrineau, P. (1992). Why do they vote for Le Pen? European Journal of Political Research, 22, 123-141.
 
37.
Moderaterna (2006). The Moderate Party. http://www.moderat.se/index.as... (accessed: September 18, 2018).
 
38.
Pekonen, K. (ed.) (1999). The New Radical Right in Finland. Jyväskylä: Kopijyvä.
 
39.
Perussuomalaiset (2018). The True Finns. http://www.perussuomalaiset.fi... (accessed: August 12, 2018).
 
40.
Ragin, Ch. (2000). Fuzzy-Set Social Science. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
 
41.
Riksdag (2006). The Swedish Parliament. http://www.riksdagen.se/englis... (accessed: September 23, 2019).
 
42.
Rydgren, J. (2002). Radical Right Populism in Sweden: Still a Failure, but for how long? Scandinavian Political Studies, 25, 27-53.
 
43.
Schain, M., Zolberg. A., Hossay, P. (eds.) (2002). Shadows over Europe: The Development and Impact of the Extreme Right in Western Europe. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
 
44.
Storting (2019). The Norwegian Parliament. http://www.stortinget.no/engli... (accessed: August 28, 2019).
 
45.
Roxburgh, A. (2003). Sweden refuses to go right. Sep. 16, 2003. BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/eur... (accessed: August 23, 2019).
 
46.
Socialdemokraterna (2006). The Social Democratic Party. http://socialdemokraterna.se/ (accessed: September 22, 2018).
 
47.
Widfeldt, A. (2000). Scandinavia: Mixed Success for the Populist Right. Parliamentary Affairs, 53(3), 468-500.
 
48.
Widfeldt, A. (2001). Responses to the Extreme Right in Sweden: Diversified Approach. School of Politics, International Relations and Environment, Keele University.
 
eISSN:2451-182X
ISSN:2083-3725
Journals System - logo
Scroll to top