Understanding the Populist Shift

<p>During the European elections of 2014 one of the main issues raised by the media was the electoral performance of so called ‘populist parties’. The electorate confirmed its deep dissatisfaction with mainstream political parties voting for far right parties in parliamentary elections in Northern Europe (Austria Denmark Sweden) Eastern Europe (Hungary where the deeply anti-Semitic Jobbik party gained votes) and in France (where the French National Front won about a quarter of the vote) while in the Southern European countries battered by austerity policies it was the radical right and left in Greece (Golden Dawn and Syriza) and the radical left in Spain (Podemos) that obtained excellent scores. </p><p></p><p>This book examines the growing trend towards far and extreme right populism that has emerged prominently in Northern (Finland) Western (Austria Denmark France the UK) Southern (Greece Italy) and Central/Eastern Europe (Slovenia Bulgaria) since the 1990s. Providing a critical understanding of current European trends and analysing the complex phenomena covered by the notion of populism this book will be of interest to students and scholars researching right-wing politics as well as European politics more generally. </p>