Towards a Radical Right Europe? A theory for the explanation of the success of Radical Right Populist Parties in North-Western Europe

Sammanfattning: This essay develops a theory for the explanation of the differences in success of Radical Right Populist Parties in Western Europe. In order to create a successful radical right populist movement and thus a successful radical right populist party, three elements are needed; ?demand?, ?supply? and ?mobilisation?. Because the creation of a radical right populist movement is different than the creation of other political movements, the specific ?supply?, ?demand? and ?mobilisation? of radical right populist movements are different as well. In order to analyse the specific elements, factors are given that contribute to the specific creation of radical right populist ?demand?, ?supply? and ?mobilisation?. Moreover, the theory of social constructivism is analysed to see how it could contribute to the created model. To support and test the theory, the theoretical framework will be tested on the political situation regarding Radical Right Populist Parties during the last two decades in Denmark and the Netherlands. While Radical Right Populist Parties in the form of the Dansk Folkeparti and Fremskridtspartiet has been present in Denmark, radical right populism has only been successful for a short term in the Netherlands in 2002 with the Lijst Pim Fortuyn. These two case studies support the theory described in this essay and show that Radical Right Populist Parties only can be successful if there is the right ?supply?, ?demand? and ?mobilisation?.