“These on the Fourth Wave”
p. 164 “While the extreme right remains largely marginal and marginalized, the populist radical right has become mainstreamed in most western democracies. Mainstreaming takes places because populist radical right parties and mainstream parties address increasinly similar issues and because they offer increasingly similar issue positions. The change can come from movement by the populist radical right (moderation) by the mainstream (radicalization), or by both at the same time (convergence).
At the beginning of the third wave, populist radical right parties were seen as ‘niche parties’ which mainly addressed socio-cultural issues like crime and immigration. In contrast, mainstream parties competed primiarly on the basis of socio-economic issues like taxation and unemployment. But in the last two decades, socio-cultural issues have come to dominate the political adenda. .. mainstream and populist radical right parties not only address the same issues, they also increasingly offer similar issue positions. Research shows that this is the consequence more of the radicalization of mainstream parties than of the moderation of populist radical right parties…. mainstream parties have radicalized, mocing further towards the (populist radical) right in terms of, first and foremost, immigration and integration, but also law and order, European integration (or international collaboration more generally), and populism.”
p. 166 “in some countries they do not even have to be (officially) part of the government to dictate a significant part of its agenda, most notably immigration and integration policies, such as in the Czech Republic, Frnace, of the UK. It is important to remember that this is taking place as populist radical right parties are still, in almost all countries, a political minority – on average the third biggest party in the country.”
p. 169 “Populist radical right parties, and particularly ideas, are increasingly tolerated, and even embraced, by business, civil society, economic, media and political circles. This has reached new levels in the wake of Brexit and Trump in 2016, which saw an outpouring of understanding for ‘working-class voters’ that was often framed within an outright populist narrative. The common people (“Somewheres”) were the political victims of an out-of-touch elite (“Anywheres”). This frame is not just pushed in rightwing media, notably Murdoch-owned media in Anglo-Saxon countries, but also enthusiastically embraced by liveral media. .. it reduces the working class to just whites and nativists, another problematic simplification”.
p. 172 “Most far-right groups are ambivalent sexist: that is, combining aspects of both benevolent sexism and hostile sexism… more traditional interpretations of masculinity predominate, in which men are expected to be strong protectors of weak women, toxic masculinity, in which mental and sexual frustration is taken out on independent and ‘opinionated’ women is increasingly prominent.”
p179 What to do in response? “Rather than following the far right’s issues, let alone their frames, we should address the issues that concern us, as well as the majority of the population, and posit our own, ideologically informed, positions…. we should set clear limits to what collaborations and positions are consistent with liberal democratic values – ideally before we are confronted with a significant far-right challenge.”
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