ABSTRACT
The second chapter expands on the main thesis of the book: the interpretation of the Dutch swing to the right as a belated and complex version of the New Right backlash in the US and the UK. The Anglo-American New Right is introduced as a fusionist project combining free market ideas and cultural conservatism. This current became an important inspiration for Dutch right-wing politicians, journalists and academics, in the 1990s and 2000s. Presently, radical right-wing populism serves as the dominant analytical framework to understand the recent right-wing surge. While the label of the New Right is definitely more diffuse than that of the populist radical right, which refers to a concrete party-family. It does, however, shed light on a series of aspects that have thus far been underappreciated by scholars. It foregrounds the crucial role of the 1960s, it includes the influential conservative factions of the mainstream parties, and it stresses the influence of ideas on the political climate.
