The Extreme Right Ideology

1
The Extreme Right Ideology

• Cas Mudde (1995 2000)
• Five main ingredients in the Extreme Right
  ideology
• Nationalism
• Racism
• Xenophobia
• Anti-democracy
• Strong state

2
1. Nationalism

• Common core doctrine of extreme right (Eatwell
  2000)
• Definition The belief that the political unit
  (the state) and the ethnic unit (the nation or
  ethnic community) should be congruent (Mudde,
  2000 187)
• Internal homogenisation (aliens should be
  expelled or assimilated)
• External exclusiveness (unite members of the
  nation into one state)

3
1. Nationalism (contd)

• Eatwell (2000) Liberal v holistic nationalism
  (only the latter part of extreme right ideology)
• Mudde (2000) State (civic) v ethnic nationalism.
  Membership of nation based on
• citizenship for state/civic nationalists
• ethnicity for ethnic nationalists (ius sanguinis
  law of the blood)
• Extreme right parties can thus be subdivided into
  more (ethnic nationalist) or less (civic
  nationalist) radical parties

4
2. Racism

• The belief in natural (hereditary) and permanent
  differences between groups of people, with the
  centrality of a hierarchy of races (Mudde, 2000
  187)
• Classical (old) racism racial purity, racial
  hierarchy
• New racism (culturism ethnopluralism) emphasis
  on cultural differences, no hierarchy, belief
  that cultures are of equal value but should not
  be mixed

5
3. Xenophobia

• (From Greek) fear of strangers
• The strangers may or may not be ethnic groups
  (could also be sexuality, religion, et c.)
• Regional and local rivalries could contain
  elements of xenophobia
• For extreme right parties, the target is usually
  immigrants, asylum seekers et c.

6
Distinction racism- xenophobia

• Racism is ideological
• Based on ideas about humanity the belief that
  these ideas should have political consequences
• Xenophobia is psychological
• Irrational fear of some groups of people
• Xenophobic but not racist dislikes some groups
  of people but does not believe in races, or a
  hierarchy
• Racist but not xenophobic believes in races and
  a hierarchy, but does not fear the inferior
  (e.g. a 19th century colonialist?)

7
4. Anti-democracy

• Depends on definition of democracy
• Procedural definition of democracy
• Anti-democracy advocacy of dictatorship,
  restrictions in the right to vote, et c.
• Substantive definition of democracy
• Anti-democracy advocacy of restrictions in
  human rights and liberties
• Open anti-democracy is rare in todays extreme
  right. See, however, FN national preference
  policies. Cf. also Schedler (1996) Semi-loyalty
  to democracy (constant attacks on democratic
  institutions and procedures)

8
5. Strong state

• Extreme right parties emphasise law and order,
  and want more resources to the police
• However, not very militaristic
• View on the welfare state has changed.
  Anti-welfare state in 80s and 90s, since then
  welfare chauvinist in favour of the welfare
  state, as long as it is restricted to the own
  people

9
Welfare chauvinism

• Kitschelt (1995) argues that a right-wing,
  pro-capitalist outlook is a key ingredient in the
  extreme rights winning formula (right-wing
  economics together with anti-immigration)
• However, since the late 1990s, a more positive
  (less negative) view on the welfare state is more
  common. More welfare to the own people
• Remember that welfare chauvinism is not the same
  as socialism. Not egalitarian. No socialist
  perspective on ownership, size and role of the
  public sector, redistribution of wealth, et c.

10
The extreme right ideology, according to Mudde
(1995/2000)

• Five ingredients, derived from literature
• Nationalism
• Racism
• Xenophobia
• Anti-democracy
• A strong state

• Four ingredients, derived from the programmes of
  five extreme right parties
• Nationalism
• Xenophobia
• Welfare chauvinism
• Law and order

11

• Traditional fascism
• Nationalism
• Racism
• Anti-democracy
• Strong state
• Organic perspective
• Authoritarianism
• Leadership cult
• Direct action
• Anti-intellectualism
• Corporatism
• Anti-marxism
• Anti-capitalism

• Todays extreme right
• Nationalism
• Xenophobia (Racism?)
• (Anti-democracy?)
• Law and order
• Welfare chauvinism

12
Modern extreme right v old fascism 1

• Ideological similarities both fascism and
  todays extreme right
• are nationalist (although different kinds of
  nationalism)
• are authoritarian (for law and order)
• are positive to personalised leadership (but not
  the same leadership cult in the modern extreme
  right)
• are sceptical of intellectuals
• are anti-marxist
• are hostile to some population groups (xenophobic)

13
Modern extreme right v old fascism 2

• Ideological differences todays extreme right
• is not in favour of an all-encompassing state
• is not openly anti-democratic
• has no organic perspective on the nation
• is not corporatist
• is not openly racist (at least classical racism)
• is not anti-capitalist (though sometimes
  sceptical of global capitalism)

14
Modern extreme right v old fascism 3

• Organisationally different (fascists have much
  stronger and elaborated organisational
  structures)
• Few of todays extreme right parties have
  historical links to fascism, and at least one of
  those that do, AN in Italy, has been drastically
  deradicalised