Pros And Cons Of Right Wing Populist Parties

Political systems within a country are a complex mosaic of the comprehensive organizations, groups and people who influence how the country is ran. One important aspect of the political system in a country is the political parties. Political parties are an organization, or an alliance of individuals who have the sam political beliefs. These people work together to influence the country win elections and ultimately control the government. Each political party has their own platform, which is their ideologies and how they wish to govern if elected. These parties all have their own spot along the political spectrum. Throughout time views of how the country should be ran, the culture of the country, and the economy change. This ultimately leads
Right wing populism can be defined in a multitude of ways. Many scholars have their own complex definition of what it means to be a right-wing populist party. To get a full understanding of what a right-wing populist party is we must understand what is means to be “right wing” and what it means to be “populist”. According to Oxford dictionary right-wing parties are “conservative or reactionary section of a political party or system”. As a conservative, they believe in traditional values and believe that we should look to the past to succeed in the future. Oxford Dictionary defines populist as “A member or adherent of a political party seeking to represent the interests of ordinary people.” Therefore, right wing refers to the structural components of the party. This is the platform or beliefs that the party runs on. Populist encompasses how the party relates to the public. This is ultimately how they promote their ideas to the people in which they want to
According to Betz there is not just one form of right-wing populism. He states that there is national populist parties and neoliberal populist parties (Betz 663). National populist parties are “primarily working class parties which espouse a radically xenophobic and authoritarian program”. He distinguishes these parties by “their radical rejection of the established socio-cultural and sociopolitcal system, their pronounced advocacy of individual achievement, a free market place, and drastic restrictions of the role of the state” (Betz 644). Betz claims that right wing populist parties are against “the social integration of marginalized groups” (Betz 644). Essentially this means that right wing populist parties are anti-immigration. They want to limit immigration of those who are not native to that country and therefore, “ It has become a commonplace to attribute the growing appeal of the radical-right wing populism to the recent explosion of hostility towards immigrants in much of western Europe” (Betz 415). They believe that in limiting the amount of immigrants they will preserve the dominant cultural and political consensus. Betz also looks at right wing populist parties through a neo-liberalism theoretical framework. He states that neoliberal programs distinguish right-wing populist parties from all other established parties. (Betz 417).