1 - Introduction

Summary

This chapter introduces the argument of the book, defines radical right parties and provides a brief description of the chapters. The book’s central claim is that radical right support is fueled not by prejudice and xenophobia but by dissatisfaction with and resentment against ascending minority groups. The principles of radical right politics proposed in the book are general, but the empirical scope of this book is restricted to post-communist democracies. The post-communist context is unique in that the process of democratization preceded and ultimately facilitated the expansion of minority rights, once autocratic regimes weakened, enabling a plurality of interests and voices to compete politically. This differs from more established contexts where the democratic opening occurred earlier and the struggle over minority rights was not concomitant with a change in regime type. Nonetheless, in both cases, the ability of minorities to extract concessions by aptly using the toolkit of democratic procedures leads to resentment among members of the majority, who begin to question the loyalty of the governing elite to the dominant group, creating opportunities for radical right mobilization.