Rw. Jackman et K. Volpert, CONDITIONS FAVORING PARTIES OF THE EXTREME-RIGHT IN WESTERN-EUROPE, British journal of political science, 26, 1996, pp. 501-521
We examine the systemic conditions that have influenced the electoral
success of parties of the extreme right in West European politics from
1970 through 1990. Empirical estimates based on 103 elections in sixt
een countries suggest that electoral and party-system factors interact
with each other to generate conditions conducive to these parties. Sp
ecifically, increasing electoral thresholds dampen support for the ext
reme right as the number of parliamentary parties expands. At the same
time, multi-partism increasingly fosters parties of the extreme right
with rising electoral proportionality. Our analyses also indicate tha
t higher rates of unemployment provide a favourable environment for th
ese political movements. These results suggest that levels of electora
l support for the extreme right are sensitive to factors that can be m
odified through policy instruments.