The Politics of the Extreme Right

Postwar Europe and the USA have seen the emergence of extreme right-wing politics, fuelled by factors such as rapid socio-economic change, the appeal to nationalism, the failures of mainstream political parties and the campaigns on issues such as immigration, security and unemployment. This text provides an analysis of the nature and prevalence of extreme-right movements within a comparative framework. It focuses mainly on Western Europe, but developments in Central and Eastern Europe in the 1990s necessitate the inclusion of recent studies which ilustrate the growth and potential of the extreme-right phenomena in the post-communist context. Also contemporary developments in the USA provide further indications of the comprehensive nature of extreme right-wing forms and tactics.