Vasilopoulou, Sofia
(2010)
Euroscepticism and the radical right: domestic strategies and party system dynamics.
PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
Abstract
The thesis analyses the phenomenon of party-based Euroscepticism with specific
reference to radical right parties. It provides a bridge between the literatures on party
behaviour, radical right parties and the study of Euroscepticism. Challenging the notion
that parties belonging to the same party family display similar positions on European
integration, it argues that radical right parties do not adopt a uniform EU stance. By
putting forward a typology of radical right Euroscepticism, the thesis establishes that
radical right European positions differ in terms of content, strength and motivation.
In explaining this divergence, the thesis adopts a framework of party strategic behaviour
and argues that party positions on Europe are related to the endogeneity of the party
system and the dynamics of inter party competition. In particular, the thesis shows that a
radical right party’s position on European integration as well as the way in which it
accommodates the European issue in its discourse is a function of the party’s wider
agenda in the national party system. The latter is developed with reference to (1) party
type and (2) its predominant aims and objectives at the domestic level. The thesis
demonstrates that the European issue is integral to the radical right’s discursive toolkit
but the ways in which the party chooses to debate the issue and/or politicise it largely
depend on the national context.
This thesis employs a nested research design as a mixed methods strategy joining the
study of the wider universe of European radical right parties with intensive case study
qualitative analysis. It commences with an overview of the general patterns and
dynamics of radical right Euroscepticism both across Europe and within the political
arenas where the three party case studies operate. It proceeds by providing an in depth
study of three radical right parties during the period 1999-2009, including the French
National Front, the Greek Popular Orthodox Rally and the Italian National Alliance.
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