In more sense than one, 2024 has delivered a bumper crop for anyone interested in the sources of the far right vote. So I decided to start the new academic year with a fresh iteration of my MA reading course on the electoral politics of the far right, with a focus on recent and very recent research.
I’m kicking this off with two reviews of what we knew in 2016 (by Matt Golder) and 2018 (by my good self), and throw in Cas Mudde’s 2019 book for good measure (not that I expect students to absorb more than one of these texts).
For the second week, I’m assigning a modern classic: Oesch and Rennwald’s treatment of class voting for the radical right, which provides a solid foundation by introducing a modern class scheme, establishing the idea of competition within a two-dimensional policy space, and illustrating the dilemma of leftist parties in Europe.
And after that, it’s a wild ride, because my main criteria for selection is “not older than a year (two at a push)” and “looks interesting”. I’ve also abandoned any residual shyness and assign two articles that I have co-authored, because they fit the criteria and students might learn something from them.
Even if one or two pieces (obviously not those two articles) turn out to be duds, that still serves an important didactic purpose (science as organised scepticism and all that). In my experience, it is quite empowering for MA students to find more or less obvious flaws in published work.
Anyway, here is my list for this semester. If I find the time, I’ll let you know how it goes.
| Introduction | Arzheimer 2018; Golder 2016; Mudde 2019 |
| Class voting and the radical right | Oesch and Rennwald 2018 |
| EU issue voting in European member states | Carrieri, Conti, and Loveless 2024 |
| Elite discourses & exclusionary national identities | May and Czymara 2024 |
| Nostalgia in the Netherlands and radical right voting | Versteegen 2024 |
| Self-identification as globalisation winner/loser | Steiner, Mader, and Schoen 2024 |
| Rising rents and radicalisation | Held and Patana 2023 |
| Local Context and radical right voting | Arzheimer et al. 2024 |
| Emigration and radical right voting | Dancygier et al. 2024 |
| The allure of legacy studies | Haffert 2022 AND Arzheimer, Bernemann, and Sprang 2024 |
| Right-wing violence & AfD support | Krause and Matsunaga 2023 |
| A new(-ish) explanation for the radical right gender gap | Oshri et al. 2023 |
| The political psychology of homonationalism | Turnbull-Dugarte and Ortega 2024 |
Arzheimer, Kai. 2018. “Explaining Electoral Support for the Radical Right.” In The Oxford Handbook of the Radical Right, edited by Jens Rydgren, 143–65. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190274559.013.8.
Arzheimer, Kai, Theresa Bernemann, and Timo Sprang. 2024. “Oppression of Catholics in Prussia Does Not Explain Spatial Differences in Support for the Radical Right in Germany. A Critique of Haffert (2022).” Electoral Studies 89: 102789. doi:10.1016/j.electstud.2024.102789.
Arzheimer, Kai, Carl Berning, Sarah de Lange, Jerome Dutozia, Jocelyn Evans, Myles Gould, Eelco Harteveld, et al. 2024. “How Local Context Affects Populist Radical Right Support: A Cross-National Investigation into Mediated and Moderated Relationships.” British Journal of Political Science online first: 1–26. doi:10.1017/S0007123424000085.
Carrieri, Luca, Nicolò Conti, and Matthew Loveless. 2024. “EU Issue Voting in European Member States: The Return of the pro-EU Voter.” West European Politics online first: 1–28. doi:10.1080/01402382.2024.2370121.
Dancygier, Rafaela, Sirus H. Dehdari, David D. Laitin, Moritz Marbach, and Kåre Vernby. 2024. “Emigration and Radical Right Populism.” American Journal of Political Science online first. doi:10.1111/ajps.12852.
Golder, Matt. 2016. “Far Right Parties in Europe.” Annual Review of Political Science 19 (1): 477–97. doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-042814-012441.
Haffert, Lukas. 2022. “The Long-Term Effects of Oppression: Prussia, Political Catholicism, and the Alternative Für Deutschland.” American Political Science Review 116 (2): 595–614. doi:10.1017/s0003055421001040.
Held, Alexander, and Pauliina Patana. 2023. “Rents, Refugees, and the Populist Radical Right.” Research & Politics 10 (2). doi:10.1177/20531680231167680.
Krause, Werner, and Miku Matsunaga. 2023. “Does Right-Wing Violence Affect Public Support for Radical Right Parties? Evidence from Germany.” Comparative Political Studies, online first. doi:10.1177/00104140231169021.
May, Antonia C, and Christian S Czymara. 2024. “Careless Whisper: Political Elite Discourses Activate National Identities for Far-Right Voting Preferences.” Nations and Nationalism 30 (1): 90–109. doi:10.1111/nana.12985.
Mudde, Cas. 2019. The Far Right Today. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Oesch, Daniel, and Line Rennwald. 2018. “Electoral Competition in Europe’s New Tripolar Political Space: Class Voting for the Left, Centre-Right and Radical Right.” European Journal of Political Research 57: 783–807. doi:10.1111/1475-6765.12259.
Oshri, Odelia, Liran Harsgor, Reut Itzkovitch-Malka, and Or Tuttnauer. 2023. “Risk Aversion and the Gender Gap in the Vote for Populist Radical Right Parties.” American Journal of Political Science 67 (3): 701–17. doi:10.1111/ajps.12696.
Steiner, Nils D., Matthias Mader, and Harald Schoen. 2024. “Subjective Losers of Globalization.” European Journal of Political Research 63 (1): 326–47. doi:10.1111/1475-6765.12603.
Turnbull-Dugarte, Stuart J., and Alberto López Ortega. 2024. “Instrumentally Inclusive: The Political Psychology of Homonationalism.” American Political Science Review 118 (3): 1360–78. doi:10.1017/S0003055423000849.
Versteegen, Peter Luca. 2024. “Those Were the What? Contents of Nostalgia, Relative Deprivation and Radical Right Support.” European Journal of Political Research 63: 259–80. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12593.
Thank you! 🤓