Abstract / Description of output
Recent studies hold that populist radical right parties have shifted towards a leftist socio-economic position in response to growing working-class support. Based on an analysis of policy choices in government, the present article examines this ‘pro-welfare view’ through a case study analysis of the Freedom Party of Austria (FP€O). Yet, despite the ‘proletarisation’ of its electoral support base, the FP€ O’s pro-welfare impact is restricted to the mitigation of welfare retrenchment for the core workforce, whereas the party has been a protagonist of tax cuts, trade union disempowerment and, more recently, welfare chauvinism. This policy impact can be attributed to a producerist ideology arguing that tax-paying ‘makers’ (employees, employers) need to be liberated from the economic burden imposed by self-serving ‘takers’ (immigrants, ‘corrupt elite’). The article concludes with conceptual and theoretical implications for the political economy of the populist radical right.
Original language | English |
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Journal | West European Politics |
Early online date | 18 Feb 2020 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - 18 Feb 2020 |
Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)
- radical right parties
- populism
- economic policies
- social policies
- corporatism