
Trump, Wilders, Salvini, Le Pen - During The Last Decades, Radical Right-wing Leaders And Their Parties Have Become Important Political Forces In Most Western Democracies. Their Growing Appeal Raises An Increasingly Relevant Question: Who Are The Voters That Support Them And Why Do They Do So? Numerous And Variegated Answers Have Been Given To This Question, Inside As Well As Outside Academia. Yet, Curiously, Despite Their Quantity And Diversity, These Existing Explanations Are Often Based On A Similar Assumption: That Of Homogeneous Electorates. Consequently, The Idea That Different Subgroups With Different Profiles And Preferences Might Coexist Within The Constituencies Of Radical Right-wing Parties Has Thus Far Remained Underdeveloped, Both Theoretically And Empirically. This Ground-breaking Book Is The First One That Systematically Investigates The Heterogeneity Of Radical Right-wing Voters. Theoretically, It Introduces The Concept Of Electoral Equifinality To Come To Grips With This Diversity. Empirically, It Relies On Innovative Statistical Analyses And No Less Than 125 Life-history Interviews With Voters In France And The Netherlands. Based On This Unique Material, The Study Identifies Different Roads To The Radical Right And Compares Them Within A Cross-national Perspective. In Addition, Through An Analysis Of Almost 1400 Tweets Posted By Geert Wilders And Marine Le Pen, The Book Shows How The Latter Are Able To Appeal To Different Groups Of Voters. Taken Together, The Book Thus Provides A Host Of Ground-breaking Insights Into The Heterogeneous Phenomenon Of Radical Right Support.
This book investigates the underlying motivations and diverse profiles of voters who support radical right-wing political parties in Western democracies. Author Koen Damhuis, a political scientist, challenges the common academic assumption that these electorates are homogeneous. By introducing the concept of 'electoral equifinality,' he argues that distinct subgroups with varying preferences arrive at the same political destination through different social and ideological pathways.
What You Will Find
Scope Limits
Experts recognize this work as a significant contribution to political sociology for its move away from monolithic voter profiles. Readers frequently note the academic rigor of the mixed-methods approach, which effectively bridges the gap between large-scale statistical trends and individual voter narratives.
Page Count:
296
Publication Date:
2020-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0192608983
ISBN-13:
9780192608987
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