Aalborg Universitet The Danish People's Party, the Italian Northern League and the Austrian Freedom Party in a Comparative Perspective: Party Ideology and Electoral Support Meret, Susi Publication date: 2010 Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication from Aalborg University Citation for published version (APA): Meret, S. (2010). The Danish People's Party, the Italian Northern League and the Austrian Freedom Party in a Comparative Perspective: Party Ideology and Electoral Support. Institut for Historie, Internationale Studier og Samfundsforhold, Aalborg Universitet. Spirit PhD Series No. 25 General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. ? 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Downloaded from vbn.aau.dk on: November 29, 2020 SPIRIT Doctoral Programme Aalborg University Fibigerstraede 2-97 DK-9220 Aalborg East Phone: +45 9940 7195 Fax: +45 9635 0044 Mail: [email protected] The Danish People’s Party, the Italian Northern League and the Austrian Freedom Party in a Comparative Perspective: Party Ideology and Electoral Support Susi Meret SPIRIT PhD Series Thesis no. 25 ISSN: 1903-7783 PhD dissertation The Danish People’s Party, the Italian Northern League and the Austrian Freedom Party in a Comparative Perspective: Party Ideology and Electoral Support Susi Meret Supervisor Prof. Jørgen Goul Andersen 2009, Aalborg University Institute of History and International Social Studies AMID, Academy for Migration Studies in Denmark 1 ‘(...) alle Begriffe, in denen sich ein ganzer Prozess semiotisch zusammenfasst, entziehen sich der Definition; definirbar ist nur Das, was keine Geschichte hat’. Nietzsche, F. (1887): Zur Genealogie der Moral. Eine Streitschrift. – Zweite Abhandlung, Kapitel 13. [All concepts in which a whole process is semiotically concentrated can't be defined; only that which has no history can be defined] 2 Table of Contents LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................................ 6 ACRONYMS......................................................................................................................................................... 9 PREFACE............................................................................................................................................................ 11 PART I THEORY, METHOD AND DESIGN 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE THREE CASE STUDIES AND STATE OF THE ART SCHOLARLY RESEARCH ON THE RADICAL RIGHT ...................................................................................................... 17 1.1 SETTING THE CONTEXT : THE AUSTRIAN ODD BECOMES MAINSTREAM .....................................................................17 1.2 THE NORTHERN LEAGUE IN ITALY ..........................................................................................................................19 1.3 THE DANISH PEOPLE ’S PARTY ................................................................................................................................21 1.4 SOME REFLECTIONS ABOUT PARTY LIFE COURSE AND THE DIFFERENT STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT ..........................23 1.5 FRAMING REALITY : PROBLEMS OF DEFINITION AND SCHOLARLY DISAGREEMENT IN THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE PHENOMENON ........................................................................................................................................................24 1.6 A CRITICAL STATE OF THE ART : CONTEMPORARY STUDIES OF THE RADICAL RIGHT IN WESTERN EUROPE ..............28 2. ABOUT THE METHOD AND THE COMPARATIVE DESIGN ............................................................. 31 2.1 METHODOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS AND THE ADVANTAGES OF THE COMPARATIVE APPROACH .................................31 2.2 MAIN EXPLANATION FOR THE RADICAL RIGHT IDEOLOGY AND ELECTORAL SUPPORT .............................................32 2.3 NEW SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CLEAVAGES AND THE POST -MATERIALIST /LIBERTARIAN VS . MATERIALIST /AUTHORITARIAN THESIS ..........................................................................................................................35 2.4 GLOBALISATION , MARGINALISATION AND THE SOCIOECONOMIC BASES OF POLITICAL RESENTMENT ......................40 2.5 PROTEST VOTE , POPULISM AND POLITICAL DISTRUST ..............................................................................................43 2.6 RESEARCH DESIGN , METHOD AND DATA ..................................................................................................................48 2.7 SELECTION OF THE QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE MATERIAL ...........................................................................50 3. PARTY IDEOLOGY IN A COMPARATIVE FRAMEWORK................................................................. 53 3.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................................53 3.2 THE RADICAL RIGHT ’S LACK OF IDEOLOGY .............................................................................................................54 3.3 PARTY IDEOLOGY : CONCEPTUAL AND METHODOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS .................................................................57 3.4 ON THE DIFFERENT METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF PARTY IDEOLOGY : A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT .................................................................................................................................................................61 3.5 THE RADICAL RIGHT MAIN IDEOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS ............................................................................................64 3.6 THE NEW POLITICAL CLEAVAGE HYPOTHESIS : IDEOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS FOR THE STUDY OF THE RADICAL RIGHT PARTIES . .............................................................................................................................................................67 3.7 MAIN IDEOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS RELATE TO THE MARGINALISATION OR THE WINNERS ’ AND LOSERS ’ INTERPRETATIVE APPROACH .........................................................................................................................................72 3.8 POPULISM , PROTEST VOTE AND ANTI -ESTABLISHMENT : IDEOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS ................................................74 3.9 SUMMARISING THE IDEOLOGICAL DIMENSIONS .......................................................................................................79 3.10 CONCLUSIONS .......................................................................................................................................................81 4. SUGGESTION OF A LIFESPAN MODEL AND INTRODUCTION TO THE SOURCES FOR THE ANALYSIS OF PARTY IDEOLOGY .............................................................................................................. 84 4.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................................84 4.2 A LIFESPAN MODEL FOR THE EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF PARTY IDEOLOGY ................................................................84 4.3 INTRODUCTION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PARTY SOURCES FOR THE ANALYSIS OF PARTY IDEOLOGY .....................88 4.3.1 THE DANISH PEOPLE ’S PARTY .............................................................................................................................88 4.3.2 THE NORTHERN LEAGUE ......................................................................................................................................91 4.3.3 THE AUSTRIAN FREEDOM PARTY .........................................................................................................................93 PART II THE SUPPLY SIDE: PARTIES AND IDEOLOGY 5. THE DANISH PEOPLE’S PARTY............................................................................................................... 95 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................................95 5.1 HISTORY...............................................................................................................................................................95 5.1.1 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW AND ELECTORAL DEVELOPMENT : FROM THE PROGRESS PARTY TO THE DANISH PEOPLE ’S PARTY ...........................................................................................................................................................95 3 5.1.2 THE PROGRESS PARTY (1973-2001).....................................................................................................................95 5.1.3 THE DANISH PEOPLE ’S PARTY (1995-2008).........................................................................................................97