Euroskepticism och högerextremism

Sammanfattning: This study is about the causal-relationship between the rise of far-right political parties and their effect on the public perception or opinion of the EU, based on a case study of empirical analysis of public opinion surveys. The focus of the study is to identify the causal-relationship between the rise and growth of far-right political parties in EU member states and their effect on the public’s perception or opinion of the EU. The study works on the assumption and hypothesis that there is a causal-relationship between the two, that we can identify by applying a hypothetical-deductive methodology on the analysis of empirical data. The study identifies several empirical consequences that should be present if the hypothesis is true. The result of the study is that there is a causal-relationship between the rise of far-right political parties and public opinion of the EU in that in the short term far-right political parties cause a decline in public opinion that later transitions into a rise in public opinion. The study also concludes that it is more likely that in the initial stage far-right parties effect the public opinion rather than the opposite.