Radikaalioikeiston institutionaaliset rajoitteet ja mahdollisuudet Länsi-Euroopassa

Authors

• Elina Kestilä

Abstract

Scholars studying radical right-wing parties have been increasingly interested in the influence of political opportunity structure on the radical right-wing vote. Political opportunity structure refers to the degree of openness of a particular political system, the external institutional constraints or possibilities it imposes upon political parties. In the article opportunity structures of eleven West European countries are examined in the light of different contexts of parliamentary elections held in years 1980–2003. The focus is on tracing those institutional features which may provide a fertile breeding ground for a radical right-wing party already existing in the system. More specifically, the assumptions and findings of previous studies are assessed and tested empirically. The analysis shows that certain systemic features generally assumed to facilitate the success of radical right parties should be taken with a grain of salt: while in theory they may be beneficial, the empirical evidence does not often support the arguments.