ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the success of populist parties; considerable attention is devoted to the concept of populism and its configurations. It starts by discussing three different methods to measure populism: a qualitative analysis drawing on a minimal definition, a classical content analysis and a computerized content analysis. A qualitative analysis of party literature revealed that Deutsche Volksunion (DVU), Die Republikaner (REP) and The Partei des Demokratischen Sozalismus /Die Linke (PDS/DL) qualify as populist. One major contradiction is the fact that the NPD scores very high on the scales of the content analyses while it has been dismissed as a populist party on the basis of the qualitative analysis. According to a report of the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the NPD promotes its ideal of an ethnically homogeneous in opposition to parliamentary democracy. The chapter explores the results of the systematic content analyses and presents the results of an analysis of parties in West European countries.
