The populist radical right

Do voters perceive women far-right candidates as more socially acceptable and democratic than men candidates? If so, does this increase their likelihood of voting for women candidates? To investigate, we run a vignette survey experiment in Germany (n=3,881). We find that women far-right candidates are perceived as more socially acceptable, and partly as more democratic, than men. This is due to stereotypical feminine traits that people attribute to them. Perceptions of social acceptability, in turn, mediate the relationship between candidate gender and likelihood of voting for them. Therefore, women candidates contribute to far-right parties’ electoral success in two ways: indirectly, by making them appear more socially acceptable, and directly, by attracting more votes than men – with the reputational and electoral gains greater among women voters. Our study brings a novel gender perspective to research on far-right normalisation, by showing that women candidates play an important role in it.

Transnational cooperation on the populist radical right is on the rise. From the USA to India, populist radical right (PRR) parties are increasingly adopting a discourse which juxtaposes a transnational ‘us’ with a transnational ‘them’. While scholars have looked primarily at nativism, and in particular Islamophobia, as the glue that links these actors transnationally, this paper investigates new issues on which they are mobilising in the transnational arena. Specifically, it asks: What issues do PRR party actors discuss at transnational events? I argue that due to the increasing heterogeneity of PRR politics in terms of policy issues, actors involved, and venues for transnational socialisation, the PRR transnational discourse should have become more diverse and encompass ‘newer’ issues, especially outside the context of the European Parliament (EP). To test this, I draw on an original corpus of over 300 speeches of PRR party actors at transnational events which occurred between 2013 and 2024. Using Structural Topic Models, I find that the transnational populist radical right has moved beyond nativism and increasingly mobilises on issues like the family and foreign policy. In addition, the only events in which PRR parties still debate mostly traditional topics are those organised by PRR EP groups.

Over the past decade, there has been a steep increase in the quantity and quality of transnational activity on the populist radical right (PRR). This has not only been confined to members of European Parliament groups, or even parties and politicians from Europe more broadly, but extends to actors from across the globe, encompassing parties, youth wings, and think-tanks. The result is a burgeoning transnational PRR ecosystem which continues to both widen and deepen. However, while we may be familiar with the big events characterising this ecosystem such as CPAC, NatCon and Foro Madrid, we know little about the actors that drive its construction and connect its various parts. In this paper, we therefore ask: Who are the architects and brokers of PRR transnationalization? To investigate, we use a unique dataset of transnational PRR events, speeches by participants at such gatherings, and original interviews with PRR elected representatives, youth wing leaders, and affiliated think-tank officials. Having firstly mapped out the PRR ecosystem using Social Network Analysis (SNA) and identified its architects and brokers, we then illustrate how these actors contribute to maintaining and growing the ecosystem. Building on our empirical findings, we then propose a theory of PRR transnationalization.