Jens Rydgren (Editor)

The last two decades have seen the emergence of new radical right-wing populist parties in Western democracies. The electoral breakthrough of the French Front National in 1984 was the starting point for the rise of parties combining anti-establishment populism and antiimmigrant politics based on ethno-nationalist ideology (see Rydgren 2004). These parties have in common that they are movements of exclusion: their conception of ‘the people’ is narrower than for other parties within respective party system. Immigration should be stopped or radically reduced, and immigrants already living in the country should assimilate. The idea and practice of multiculturalism is the principal enemy and the conception of cultural diversity—as it is conventionally understood—is denounced. Instead an alternative conception of diversity is presented: that ethnic mixing leads to cultural extinction and must be avoided in order to safeguard the existence of different cultures and ethnicities in the world (and the majority culture in each country from annihilation). Radical nationalism is thus presented as a necessary condition for maintaining ethnic diversity on an international scale.

However, although this is the core frame for most of the radical right-wing populist parties, there are other anti-immigration arguments as well (see Rydgren 2003). The so-called welfare chauvinist frame has become increasingly important lately: the real or allegedly costs of immigration is seen as a threat to the generous welfare programs of Western societies. Immigrants are commonly depicted as ‘economic refugees’ or ‘social welfare tourists’ that have come in order to live good parasite lives on state subsidies. The second constitutive characteristic of radical right-wing populist parties is their antiestablishment populism. Being populists, they believe the basic cleavage goes between the people and the establishment—and not between different established political parties and currents, or between different classes. In reality, populists argue, the parties of the elite do not compete but collude, and their main objective is to keep the people at a distant. At the same time, the radical right wing populist parties must be careful not to be seen as anti-democratic, or too closely connected to anti-democratic currents (see Schedler 1996)—which would scare away potential voters and supporters.