ABSTRACT

This book focuses on the varied support for the populist radical right in the Benelux countries: Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Despite many common characteristics, right-wing populist parties have historically been more successful in the Netherlands and Flanders than in Luxembourg and Wallonia.

This book argues that the variation in the success of right-wing populist parties depends to a large extent on the way in which they are perceived and received in a given polity. In the Netherlands and Flanders, mainstream parties and the media have contributed to politicising issues pertaining to immigration and national identity, thereby tilling the field for the populist radical right. In Luxembourg and Wallonia, mainstream parties and the media have resolutely limited the opportunities for right-wing populist challengers to influence the public debate.

This volume will be of interest to practitioners as well as students and scholars of party politics, the media, the populist radical right and the Benelux region.

chapter 1|19 pages

Right-wing populism in Europe

A story of success and failure

chapter 2|46 pages

Explaining right-wing populist trajectories

Towards a framework for analysis

chapter 4|45 pages

Mainstream parties

Catalysts or buffers against the populist radical right?

chapter 5|23 pages

The media and the populist radical right

Friend or foe?

chapter 6|18 pages

Right-wing populist parties in the Benelux and beyond

Future pathways