Playing the nationalist card: Mainstream parties, mass media and far right breakthroughs in Western Europe

The dissertation seeks to explain the divergent trajectories of far right parties in Western Europe in the past few decades. It departs from existing economic, institutional and sociological accounts and attributes far right breakthroughs to mainstream party competition over national identity and to media exposure. The dissertation shows that a sociocultural shift in Western Europe increased public attachment to the national in-group, giving major parties incentives to radicalize political competition over national identity issues (e.g. immigration policy, asylum law and historical memory). Where the media were willing to give exposure to the far right, the radicalization furnished far rightists with opportunities to enter the mainstream debate, gain public visibility and legitimize their claims. The enhanced media exposure of the far right became a political liability for major parties when international or electoral pressures compelled them to moderate their initial positions. Wherever major parties retracted the nationalist card and mainstream media gave the far right publicity, far rightists achieved electoral breakthroughs.;The study applies this framework to the "most similar" cases of Austria and Germany, and the "most different" case of Greece. It relies on evidence from elite interviews and media content to identify and examine nine periods of "nationalist radicalization" --- periods of intense political competition over national identity issues --- and to trace party competition and media exposure to national legislative outcomes. To gauge patterns of party competition during each period, the dissertation uses evidence from dozens of interviews with mainstream politicians, top journalists and far rightists. It also examines legislative debates, party documents and newspaper reports. To measure media exposure for the far right, it analyzes the content of major publications and television stations in each country from 1980 onwards.