THE ELECTORAL PERSISTENCE OF FAR-RIGHT PARTIES IN EUROPE A thesis submitted to the faculty of San Francisco State University In partial fulfillment of AS the requirements for the Degree JoR- Ton Master of Arts In Political Science by Anthony Benjamin Avila San Francisco, California May 2017 Copyright by Anthony Avila CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL I certify that I have read The Electoral Persistence of Far-Right Parties in Europe by Anthony Benjamin Avila, and that in my opinion this work meets the criteria for approving a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree Master of Arts: Political Science at San Francisco State University. Nicole F. Watts,'Ph.D. Professor of Political Science Jame^)Wartel, Ph.D. Professor of Political Science THE ELECTORAL PERSISTENCE OF FAR-RIGHT PARTIES IN EUROPE Anthony Benjamin Avila San Francisco, California 2017 Since the financial crisis of 2008, democratic governments across Europe have seen revitalization in support for far-right political parties. A number of these new parties have managed to achieve electoral success in multiple consecutive elections despite the use of violence by its members and supporters. I argue that the continued electoral support of far-right parties can largely be attributed to the efforts of party activists in establishing electoral connections with its constituency through the provision of essential and meaningful services. I create a unique tripartite explanatory model to account for the electoral persistence of far-right parties. I employ this model to analyze Golden Dawn in Greece and Jobbik in Hungary and demonstrate how the actions of party activists can engender continued political support for even the most extreme far-right parties. I certify that the abstract is a correct representation of the content of this thesis o S’ — l ^ - 2_o i Chair, Thesis Committee Date ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to thank and acknowledge my thesis chair Professor Nicole F. Watts at San Francisco State University. Her continued support and encouragement throughout the writing process was instrumental in the creation of my theoretical model and her constructive criticism pushed me to strive for excellence while allowing the paper to be my own work. I would also like to thank my co-chair Professor James Martel, whose courses instilled in me an interest in radical politics and whose passionate input was also helpful during the conception of this work. Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my mother and father, my brother and sister, and my wife Monique for their unconditional love and support throughout my time as a graduate student. This work would not have been possible without you all. v TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures..........................................................................................................................vii Chapter 1: Introduction..............................................................................................................1 Chapter 2: The Academic Study of Far-Right Politics......................................................... 11 Defining Terms............................................................................................................12 Explaining the Electoral Success and Persistence of FRPs ....................................18 Proposed Model and Theoretical Framework...........................................................32 Chapter 3: Golden Dawn in Greece....................................................................................... 39 Chapter 4: Jobbik in Hungary.................................................................................................61 Chapter 5: Conclusion..............................................................................................................89 Reference..................................................................................................................................97 LIST OF FIGURES Figures Page 1. Conceptual Distinction of Radical vs. Extreme Right Parties............................18 2. Tripartite Model of FRP Persistence.................................................................. 38 3. “Cuteness campaign” ad for Jobbik candidate Janos Stummer........................85 vii 1 Chapter 1 - Introduction Perhaps one of the most striking political trends in the last ten years is the increasing support for far-right parties in democracies across Europe. This most recent wave of political success for such parties, which began after the 2008 financial crisis, is the latest development in a trend that began in the 1980s when the radical right re- emerged as a minor though prevalent force in Europe for the first time since the Interwar period (Art 2011; Mudde 2007). Radical right-wing parties have emerged successful in local and state elections in a vast number of countries including but not limited to Austria, Greece, Denmark, Sweden, France, Slovakia, Finland, Belgium and Hungary (BBC 2016). Moreover, a number of these parties continue to maintain and even increase their electoral support over multiple elections. While scholars on the subject have sought to temper fears about the significance of this trend, there is a clear acknowledgement of the real extent to which these far-right parties engage in or are indirectly associated with violent activities targeting some of the most vulnerable groups in society (Art 2013; Mudde 2016). This point is particularly relevant when considering the fact that some of the most extreme right-wing parties have managed to gamer the necessary number of votes to enter office and maintain this electoral support in consecutive elections. This work seeks to explain and identify the factors that contribute to the continued electoral support and success of far-right parties in Europe in the last decade. A number 2 of conditions made it apt to study this topic. First, enough time has passed since the beginning of this new wave of far-right support to assess the sustainability of these parties across multiple election cycles, making it ripe for examination. Second, the question of continued electoral support for the far-right is a relatively new and distinct academic inquiry. While a vast number of studies have addressed the initial breakthrough of these parties, few have sought to examine their variation in electoral success over time. Moreover, of the scholars who have examined this particular question, a number of theoretical and methodological disagreements have emerged, with a lack of consensus on how to account for this variation. Finally, because this is an ongoing and developing phenomenon that poses a potential threat to liberal democracies worldwide, research on this topic may reveal policy implications for democratic leaders seeking to quell the support for the far-right while engaging with its members in office. Understanding why even the most extreme right-wing parties across Europe have been able to maintain electoral support and achieve electoral success in consecutive elections is therefore a question that holds both academic and political relevance. Terminological and Conceptual Headaches There are at least two key difficulties that scholars have had to deal with when studying far-right politics. The first concerns the most basic issue of defining terms and the categorization of real world examples. Scholars in this field have used a vast multitude of terms with significant disagreement over their definitions. Different researchers define and use terms like far-right, radical right, populist radical right, 3 extreme right, neo-fascist, right wing populist, and ultranationalist in varying and sometimes competing ways. This “terminological chaos” and the epistemological difficulties inherent in defining social scientific terms ultimately leads to problems of categorization and discrepancies in delineating which parties are considered to be part of the far-right family (Mudde 2007, 12). Without going into detail here, this work uses far- right and far-right parties (FRPs) as an umbrella term to refer to a family of political ideologies that are distinguished as further to the right on the political spectrum than mainstream conservatism, varying in the degree to which they profess a disdain for liberal democratic values and embrace xenophobic, nationalist or nativist sentiments or beliefs (Ignazi 2003; Mudde 2007; Art 2011). The terms “radical right” and “extreme right” typically denote the degree of these beliefs, with radical referring to a general criticism of democratic values and an advancement of illiberal or authoritarian polices and extreme referring to an outright rejection of the democratic system (Mudde 2007). I develop my own distinction based on whether the FRP regularly engages in illegal activities or actively coordinates with groups that do The second issue relates to addressing the question of variation in FRP successes over time. Some researchers choose to approach the issue by analyzing demand-side variables like globalization, economic crises, increases in immigration, sentiments of populism and political cynicism, and income inequality, which seek to shed light on why individuals might turn to far-right politics (Ignazi 2003; Han 2014; Rooduijn 2015). While these explanations hold definite relevance, they are problematic for a number of 4 reasons. In addition to the weak and sometimes contradictory empirical evidence for these broad factors, none of them explain why a particular FRP becomes electorally successful