University of Twente Student Theses

Login

Nationalism in the globalized age : an assessment on the variations of contemporary right-wing populism in Europe

Kolb, Ole (2012) Nationalism in the globalized age : an assessment on the variations of contemporary right-wing populism in Europe.

[img] PDF
911kB
Abstract:Lately political parties that are widely perceived as being far right of the conventional conservative spectrum have experienced substantial gains in support among European countries. This study takes into account the revival of right-wing populist tendencies in three European nation states and tries to detect the social influences that are responsible for it. It is an attempt to depict the characteristics of right-wing populist movements in the countries Hungary, Great Britain and Austria. The geographical diversified approach makes it possible to illustrate the phenomena’s miscellaneous nature. By means of a comparative case study party documents of the Hungarian Jobbik Party (Hungarian: Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalom), the British Independence Party (UKIP) and the Austrian Freedom Party (German: FPÖ) are analyzed. Each is considered to be an epitomization of the country-specific right-wing populist ideology. Analyzing their programs in depth is an approach taken in order to reconstruct the parties’ position on a broad range of issues. By coding data the program ATLAS.ti is used to help the researcher organizing categories, codes and quotes selected from the documents. It turns out that the current phenomenon of right-wing populism is a diverse movement that might signify different things. It can only be understood in the light of today’s 21st century’s globalized setting. Political, economic and cultural changes have lead to a high degree of suspense and uncertainty in people’s lives. Right-wing populist parties make use of these sentiments and adjust their party program according to specific national circumstances. Whereas in post-World War Europe parties of far right politics shared certain features of traditional fascist ideology, the right wing populist ideology of today addresses a broader range of issues. Nation-specific variations are coupled with a typical anti-establishment attitude and a narrowly-defined societal model. Thus, even though general patterns and similarities are recognizable, right wing populism can take a variety of forms and any overgeneralization of the term would be an illegitimate simplification of reality.
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:88 social and public administration
Programme:European Studies BSc (56627)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/61554
Export this item as:BibTeX
EndNote
HTML Citation
Reference Manager

 

Repository Staff Only: item control page