Populist Radical Right Parties in Action: The Survival of the Mass Party

The first half of the 20th century saw the rise of political organizations characterized by clearly identifiable ideologies rooted in local communities, the so-called mass parties; however, this organizational model is now widely assumed to belong to the past. Citizens are seen to disengage from party politics, and in an age of mass and new social media, old as well as new parties can reach out to the electorate without the need for extensive face-to-face interaction. However, the mass party model has proven to be resilient and indeed successful among several populist radical right parties (PRRPs), which criticize established parties precisely for having lost touch with ordinary citizens.

Through an analysis of party structures and interviews with 125 PRRP elites and 100 active members, this book investigates why and how several contemporary PRRPs in Western Europe adopt this supposedly outdated mass party organizational model. It considers four populist radical right mass party organizations in Belgium, Finland, Italy, and Switzerland, and reveals that party elites consider the mass party model advantageous to their party’s electoral goals, organizational functioning, and survival.

Populist Radical Right Parties in Action shows how a collective sense of efficacy is key in keeping activist members motivated to invest time and effort in party activities, despite them experiencing stigmatization and getting few concrete benefits in return. Based on its findings, the book re-evaluates conventional wisdom of party organization theory and shows how traditional forms of party organization adapt to changing political contexts and communication environments.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations

Daniele Albertazzi, Professor of Politics, University of Surrey, Stijn van Kessel, Professor of Comparative Politics, Queen Mary University of London, Adrian Favero, Assistant Professor in European Politics and Society, University of Groningen, Niko T. Hatakka, Former Postdoctoral Researcher and Lecturer, University of Helsinki, Judith Sijstermans, Lecturer in Politics, University of Aberdeen, Mattia Zulianello, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Trieste

Daniele Albertazzi is Professor of Politics at the Department of Politics of the University of Surrey and co-directs the Centre for Britain and Europe of the University of Surrey (a Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence). The major strands of his work have focused on about populism in Western Europe, party organization, Italian politics, Swiss politics, and the communication strategies of political parties. Albertazzi’s most recent books are Populism and New Patterns of Political Competition in Western Europe (Routledge 2021), co-edited with Davide Vampa, and Populism in Europe (Manchester University Press, 2021), co-written with Davide Vampa.

Stijn van Kessel is Professor of Comparative Politics at Queen Mary University of London. His main research interests are populism and populist parties in Europe, the radical right, and the politics of European integration. He is the author of Populist Parties in Europe (Palgrave, 2015) and The Failure of Remain (McGill-Queens University Press, 2023), co-written with Adam Fagan. He has also published articles in British Journal of Political Science, European Journal of Political Research, and Party Politics, among others. He is joint editor of the Routledge book series Extremism and Democracy.

Adrian Favero is Assistant Professor in European Politics and Society at the University of Groningen. He holds a PhD in Politics from the University of Edinburgh (2018). He previously worked as a post-doctoral fellow for the ESRC- funded project ’Populism in Action’ at the University of Birmingham. His research is comparative in nature and focuses on party organization and right-wing populism within and across Europe, as well as attitudes towards the EU and intra-EU migration. His works have been published in various peer-reviewed journals.

Niko T. Hatakka was Postdoctoral Researcher and Lecturer at the University of Helsinki in the Faculty of Social Sciences, and previously a research fellow in the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLSIS) at the University of Birmingham. He was also a visiting fellow at the Centre for Parliamentary Studies at the University of Turku. His research focused on the populist radical right, party organization, the relationship of populism and media, online activism, political communication, and media platforms.

Judith Sijstermans is a Lecturer in Politics at the University of Aberdeen. She previously held post-doctoral research roles with the ESRC-funded ’Populism in Action’ project at the University of Birmingham and the UK in a Changing Europe-funded ’Family of Nations’ project at the University of Edinburgh. She completed her PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 2019. Her research has focused on nationalist political parties, including radical right and secessionist ones, and relationships between political parties across the European Union. She focuses on the cases of the UK, particularly Scotland, and Belgium, particularly Flanders.

Mattia Zulianello is Associate Professor in Political Science at the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Trieste. He received a PhD in Political Science with distinction from the Scuola Normale Superiore in Florence, Italy in 2015, and has previously worked at the University of Florence and the University of Birmingham. His research has appeared in several international peer-reviewed journals, and he is the author of Anti-System Parties (Routledge, 2019). His main research interests are populism, radicalism, extremism, party systems, and comparative politics.