ABSTRACT
Extreme right-wing parties across Western Europe experienced a well-documented surge in support at the end of the twentieth century. Throughout the 1990s, they made electoral gains and seemed to be on an upward trajectory of electoral success. Many of them portrayed themselves as populists calling for change and a return to nationalism and core cultural values at a time when economic challenges, immigration waves and other social problems worried national populations. In France beginning with a breakthrough election in Dreux in 1983, the National Front won local elected offices and gained seats for the first time in the national parliament in 1986. They also amassed a stable and growing percentage of the popular vote in national elections typically ranging from 10 to 15 per cent through 2002. In Austria, the Freedom Party went a step further entering the governing coalition following parliamentary elections in 1999 and staying there until 2006. However, in both cases the extreme right later experienced a measure of twenty-first-century electoral decline. Although in both cases the parties have since rebounded, focus on their periods of decline promises illumination of key factors shaping their electoral fortunes.
