Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Dissertations Graduate College 12-2009 Important or Impotent? Radical Right Political Parties and Public Policy in Germany and Austria Marcella J. Myers Western Michigan University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations Part of the International Relations Commons, and the Public Policy Commons Recommended Citation Myers, Marcella J., "Important or Impotent? Radical Right Political Parties and Public Policy in Germany and Austria" (2009). Dissertations. 717. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/717 This Dissertation-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. IMPORTANT OR IMPOTENT? RADICAL RIGHT POLITICAL PARTIES AND PUBLIC POLICY IN GERMANY AND AUSTRIA by Marcella J. Myers Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Political Science Advisor: Gunther Hega, Ph.D. Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan December 2009 IMPORTANT OR IMPOTENT? RADICAL RIGHT POLITICAL PARTIES AND PUBLIC POLICY IN GERMANY AND AUSTRIA Marcella J. Myers, Ph.D. Western Michigan University, 2009 Across Western Europe throughout the 1990s radical right political parties emerged and gained some electoral success. Since that time, particularly in the face of the popularity of the National Front in France and the Freedom Party in Austria, many studies have been conducted examining the voting behavior, party membership and ideologies of these parties, and what the parties mean to democratic governments.