Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-wxhwt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-12T18:07:37.706Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How Do They Get In? Radical Parties and Government Participation in European Democracies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 September 2019

Andreas Fagerholm Open the ORCID record for Andreas Fagerholm [Opens in a new window]
Andreas Fagerholm*
Affiliation:
Andreas Fagerholm, Faculty of Social Sciences, Business and Economics, Åbo Akademi University, Vaasa, Finland
*
*Corresponding author. Email: andreas.fagerholm@abo.fi
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Despite their alleged anti-systemness and ‘non-coalitionability’, radical right and radical left parties have, since the early 1990s, both supported and entered coalition governments in a number of European liberal democracies. Using the classical ‘size and ideology’ framework, this study sets out to examine how – or, put differently, under what circumstances – radical right and radical left parties are able to overcome the obstacles associated with governing and enter coalition governments. Inspired by previous observations regarding the complex and multicausal nature of radical government participation, the study relies on a configurational method. By means of a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) of 37 radical parties at 207 coalition formation instances in 22 (Western and Central and Eastern) European countries, the article sheds light on different paths that lead to government inclusion (and exclusion) of radical actors. The empirical evidence indicates that electoral success in combination with a fairly similar policy position to a weak prime minister party is sufficient for government inclusion. The paths to government exclusion, by contrast, underline the importance of ideological distance in combination with size-related factors.

Keywords

radical leftradical rightgovernment participationWestern EuropeCentral and Eastern Europeconfigurational methods
Type
Article
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , April 2021 , pp. 260 - 280
Copyright
Copyright © The Author 2019. Published by Government and Opposition Limited and Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Akkerman, T (2016a) Conclusions. In Akkerman, T, de Lange, SL and Rooduijn, M (eds), Radical Right-Wing Populist Parties in Western Europe: Into the Mainstream? Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 268–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Akkerman, T (2016b) The Party for Freedom: Balancing between Mission, Votes and Office. In Akkerman, T, de Lange, SL and Rooduijn, M (eds), Radical Right-Wing Populist Parties in Western Europe: Into the Mainstream? Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 144–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Akkerman, T, de Lange, SL and Rooduijn, M (2016a) Inclusion and Mainstreaming? Radical Right-Wing Populist Parties in the New Millennium. In Akkerman, T, de Lange, SL and Rooduijn, M (eds), Radical Right-Wing Populist Parties in Western Europe: Into the Mainstream? Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 1–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Akkerman, T, de Lange, SL and Rooduijn, M (eds) (2016b) Radical Right-Wing Populist Parties in Western Europe: Into the Mainstream? Abingdon: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Albertazzi, D and McDonnell, D (2015) Populists in Power. Abingdon: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andeweg, RB (2013) Parties in Parliament: The Blurring of Opposition. In Müller, WC and Narud, HM (eds), Party Governance and Party Democracy: Festschrift to Kaare Strøm. New York: Springer, pp. 99–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andeweg, RB, De Winter, L and Dumont, P (eds) (2011) Puzzles of Government Formation: Coalition Theory and Deviant Cases. Abingdon: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Auers, D and Kasekamp, A (2015) The Impact of Radical Right Parties in the Baltic States. In Minkenberg, M (ed.), Transforming the Transformation? The East European Radical Right in the Political Process. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 137–153.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bäck, H and Dumont, P (2007) Combining Large-n and Small-n Strategies: The Way Forward in Coalition Research. West European Politics 30(3), 467–501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bakker, R et al. (2015) Measuring Party Positions in Europe: The Chapel Hill Expert Survey Trend File, 1999–2010. Party Politics 21(1), 143–152.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bale, T and Dunphy, R (2011) In From the Cold? Left Parties and Government Involvement since 1989. Comparative European Politics 9(3), 269–291.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumgartner, M and Thiem, A (2017a) Model Ambiguities in Configurational Comparative Research. Sociological Methods and Research 46(4), 954–987.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumgartner, M and Thiem, A (2017b) Often Trusted but Never (Properly) Tested: Evaluating Qualitative Comparative Analysis. Sociological Methods and Research, published early online, May. http://doi.org/10.1177/0049124117701487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Budge, I and Keman, H (1990) Parties and Democracy: Coalition Formation and Government Functioning in Twenty States. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Chiocchetti, P (2017) The Radical Left Party Family in Western Europe, 1989–2015. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
Christensen, DA (2010) The Danish Socialist People's Party: Still Waiting After All These Years. In Olsen, J, Koß, M and Hough, D (eds), Left Parties in National Governments. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 121–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Lange, SL (2008) Radical Right-Wing Populist Parties in Government: Determinants of Coalition Membership. Paper presented at the Politics of Change Conference, Amsterdam, 13–14 June.Google Scholar
de Lange, SL (2012) New Alliances: Why Mainstream Parties Govern with Radical Right-Wing Populist Parties. Political Studies 60(4), 899–918.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Swaan, A (1973) Coalition Theories and Cabinet Formations: A Study of Formal Theories of Coalition Formation Applied to Nine European Parliaments After 1918. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Döring, H and Hellström, J (2013) Who Gets into Government? Coalition Formation in European Democracies. West European Politics 36(4), 683–703.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Döring, H and Manow, P (2016) Parliaments and Governments Database (ParlGov). [Data set, development version.] Bremen: University of Bremen.Google Scholar
Dumont, P and Bäck, H (2006) Why so Few, and Why so Late? Green Parties and the Question of Governmental Participation. European Journal of Political Research 45(S1), 35–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunphy, R (2010) A Poisoned Chalice? Finland's Left Alliance and the Perils of Government. In Olsen, J, Koß, M and Hough, D (eds), Left Parties in National Governments. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 69–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunphy, R and Bale, T (2011) The Radical Left in Coalition Government: Towards a Comparative Measurement of Success and Failure. Party Politics 17(4), 488–504.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dușa, A and Thiem, A (2015) Enhancing the Minimization of Boolean and Multivalue Output Functions with eQMC. Journal of Mathematical Sociology 39(2), 92–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fagerholm, A (2019) Radical Parties and Government Participation in European Democracies: How Do They Get In? Unpublished manuscript.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freire, A and Lisi, M (2016) The Portuguese Radical Left and the Great Recession: Old Challenges and New Responses. In March, L and Keith, D (eds), Europe's Radical Left: From Marginality to the Mainstream? London: Rowman and Littlefield, pp. 253–71.Google Scholar
Goertz, G (2006) Social Science Concepts: A User's Guide. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goertz, G (2017) Multimethod Research, Causal Mechanisms, and Case Studies: An Integrated Approach. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Gyárfášová, O and Mesežnikov, G (2015) Actors, Agenda, and Appeal of the Radical Nationalist Right in Slovakia. In Minkenberg, M (ed.), Transforming the Transformation? The East European Radical Right in the Political Process. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 224–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heinisch, R and Hauser, K (2016) The Mainstreaming of the Austrian Freedom Party. In Akkerman, T, de Lange, SL and Rooduijn, M (eds), Radical Right-Wing Populist Parties in Western Europe: Into the Mainstream? Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 73–93.Google Scholar
Hough, D and Verge, T (2009) A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing or a Gift from Heaven? Left–Left Coalitions in Comparative Perspective. Regional and Federal Studies 19(1), 37–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hug, S (2013) Qualitative Comparative Analysis: How Inductive Use and Measurement Error Lead to Problematic Inference. Political Analysis 21(2), 252–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jupskås, AR (2016) The Taming of the Shrew: How the Progress Party (almost) Became Part of the Mainstream. In Akkerman, T, de Lange, SL and Rooduijn, M (eds), Radical Right-Wing Populist Parties in Western Europe: Into the Mainstream? Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 169–192.Google Scholar
Kasprowicz, D (2015) The Radical Right in Poland – from the Mainstream to the Margins: A Case of Interconnectivity. In Minkenberg, M (ed.), Transforming the Transformation? The East European Radical Right in the Political Process. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 157–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katsourides, Y (2016) Radical Left Parties in Government: The Cases of SYRIZA and AKEL. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keith, D and March, L (2016a) Conclusion: The European Radical Left; Past, Present, No Future? In March, L and Keith, D (eds), Europe's Radical Left: From Marginality to the Mainstream? London: Rowman and Littlefield, pp. 353–379.Google Scholar
Keith, D and March, L (2016b) Introduction. In March, L and Keith, D (eds), Europe's Radical Left: From Marginality to the Mainstream? London: Rowman and Littlefield, pp. 1–23.Google Scholar
Koß, M (2010) Close to, but Still Out of, Government: The Swedish Vänsterpartiet. In Olsen, J, Koß, M and Hough, D (eds), Left Parties in National Governments. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 105–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krogslund, C, Choi, DD and Poertner, M (2015) Fuzzy Sets on Shaky Ground: Parameter Sensitivity and Confirmation Bias in fsQCA. Political Analysis 23(1), 21–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lieberman, ES (2005) Nested Analysis as a Mixed-Method Strategy for Comparative Research. American Political Science Review 99(3), 435–452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lucas, SR and Szatrowski, A (2014) Qualitative Comparative Analysis in Critical Perspective. Sociological Methodology 44(1), 1–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackie, JL (1965) Causes and Conditions. American Philosophical Quarterly 2(4), 245–264.Google Scholar
March, L (2012) Radical Left Parties in Europe. Abingdon: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
March, L (2016) Radical Left ‘Success’ Before and After the Great Recession. In March, L and Keith, D (eds), Europe's Radical Left: From Marginality to the Mainstream? London: Rowman and Littlefield, pp. 27–50.Google Scholar
March, L and Keith, D (eds) (2016) Europe's Radical Left: From Marginality to the Mainstream? London: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
March, L and Mudde, C (2005) What's Left of the Radical Left? The European Radical Left After 1989: Decline and Mutation. Comparative European Politics 3(1), 23–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mattila, M and Raunio, T (2004) Does Winning Pay? Electoral Success and Government Formation in 15 West European Countries. European Journal of Political Research 43(2), 263–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Medzihorsky, J et al. (2017) SetMethods: Functions for Set-Theoretic Multi-Method Research and Advanced QCA. R package version 2.3.Google Scholar
Minkenberg, M (2013) From Pariah to Policy-Maker? The Radical Right in Europe, West and East: Between Margin and Mainstream. Journal of Contemporary European Studies 21(1), 5–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Minkenberg, M (2017) The Radical Right in Eastern Europe: Democracy under Siege? New York: Palgrave Pivot.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mudde, C (1996) The War of Words Defining the Extreme Right Party Family. West European Politics 19(2), 225–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mudde, C (2005) Politischer Extremismus und Radikalismus in Westeuropa – Typologie und Bestandsaufnahme. In Backes, U and Jesse, E (eds), Gefährdungen der Freiheit: Extremistische Ideologien im Vergleich. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, pp. 87–104.Google Scholar
Mudde, C (2007) Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Müller, WC and Strøm, K (2000) Coalition Governance in Western Europe: An Introduction. In Müller, WC and Strøm, K (eds), Coalition Governments in Western Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 1–31.Google Scholar
Newell, J (2010) Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Governing Dilemmas of Rifondazione Comunista. In Olsen, J, Koß, M and Hough, D (eds), Left Parties in National Governments. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 52–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olsen, J, Hough, D and Koß, M (2010a) Conclusion: Left Parties in National Governments. In Olsen, J, Koß, M and Hough, D (eds), Left Parties in National Governments. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 173–185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olsen, J, Koß, M and Hough, D (eds) (2010b) Left Parties in National Governments. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ragin, CC (1987) The Comparative Method: Moving Beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Ragin, CC (2000) Fuzzy-Set Social Science. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Ragin, CC (2008) Redesigning Social Inquiry: Fuzzy Sets and Beyond. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riker, WH (1962) The Theory of Political Coalitions. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Sartori, G (1976) Parties and Party Systems: A Framework for Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Savage, LM (2014) Who Gets In? Ideology and Government Membership in Central and Eastern Europe. Party Politics 20(4), 547–562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, CQ and Rohlfing, I (2013) Combining QCA and Process Tracing in Set-Theoretic Multi-Method Research. Sociological Methods and Research 42(4), 559–597.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, CQ and Rohlfing, I (2016) Case Studies Nested in Fuzzy-Set QCA on Sufficiency: Formalizing Case Selection and Causal Inference. Sociological Methods and Research 45(3), 526–568.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, CQ and Wagemann, C (2010) Standards of Good Practice in Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and Fuzzy-Sets. Comparative Sociology 9(1), 1–22.Google Scholar
Schneider, CQ and Wagemann, C (2012) Set-Theoretic Methods for the Social Sciences: A Guide to Qualitative Comparative Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skaaning, S-E (2011) Assessing the Robustness of Crisp-Set and Fuzzy-Set QCA Results. Sociological Methods and Research 40(2), 391–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smithson, M and Verkuilen, J (2006) Fuzzy Set Theory: Applications in the Social Sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strøm, K (1990) Minority Government and Majority Rule. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Strøm, K, Budge, I and Laver, MJ (1994) Constraints on Cabinet Formation in Parliamentary Democracies. American Journal of Political Science 38(2), 303–335.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thiem, A (2017) Conducting Configurational Comparative Research with Qualitative Comparative Analysis: A Hands-on Tutorial for Applied Evaluation Scholars and Practitioners. American Journal of Evaluation 38(3), 420–433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thiem, A (2018) QCApro: Advanced Functionality for Performing and Evaluating Qualitative Comparative Analysis. R package version 1.1-2.Google Scholar
Thiem, A, Baumgartner, M and Bol, D (2016) Still Lost in Translation! A Correction of Three Misunderstandings between Configurational Comparativists and Regressional Analysts. Comparative Political Studies 49(6), 742–774.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verge, T (2010) The Spanish United Left – the Belated and Troublesome Transition from Policy- to Office-Seeking. In Olsen, J, Koß, M and Hough, D (eds), Left Parties in National Governments. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 87–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verkuilen, J (2005) Assigning Membership in a Fuzzy Set Analysis. Sociological Methods and Research 33(4), 462–496.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Volkens, A et al. (2017) The Manifesto Data Collection. [Dataset, version 2017b.] Berlin: Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB).Google Scholar
Wagemann, C and Schneider, CQ (2015) Transparency Standards in Qualitative Comparative Analysis. Qualitative and Multi-Method Research 13(1), 38–42.Google Scholar
Warwick, PV (1996) Coalition Government Membership in West European Parliamentary Democracies. British Journal of Political Science 26(4), 471–499.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Fagerholm supplementary material

Online Appendix A-D

Download Fagerholm supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 416 KB