Inside the Radical Right : The Development of Anti-Immigrant Parties in Western Europe / David Art.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 245-262) and index.

1. Introduction -- 2. Activists and Party Development -- 3. Parties of Poor Souls -- 4. Nationalist Subcultures and the Radical Right -- 5. Party Transformation and Flash Parties -- 6. Reforming the Old Right? -- 7. Conclusion -- Appendix A. Percentage of the Vote for Radical Right Parties in National Parliamentary Elections -- Appendix B. Coding Pocedure for Radical Right Party Lists -- Appendix C. ISCO Codes for Radical Right Candidates for Office.

What explains the cross-national variation in the radical right's electoral success over the last several decades? Challenging existing structural and institutional accounts, this book analyzes the dynamics of party building and explores the attitudes, skills and experiences of radical right activists in eleven different countries. Based on extensive field research and an original data set of radical right candidates for office, David Art links the quality of radical right activists to broader patterns of success and failure. He demonstrates how a combination of historical legacies and incentive structures produced activists who helped party building in some cases and doomed it in others. In an age of rising electoral volatility and the fading of traditional political cleavages, Inside the Radical Right makes a strong case for the importance of party leaders and activists as masters of their own fate.