22 January 2019

LSE: How the electoral success of radical right parties normalises public expressions of support for them

Drawing on a new study, Vicente Valentim illustrates that once a radical right party enters parliament they can effectively become normalised, with supporters more likely to report their backing for the party in surveys.

The success of radical right parties has been increasing and spreading in recent years. From peripheral political groups, they have grown to become central to the policymaking process in many countries. But has this electoral success ‘normalised’ these parties, reducing the stigma associated with the radical right and making individuals more confident in engaging in public demonstrations of support for such parties?

In a recent paper, I contend that it has. I argue that the rhetoric and policy positions of radical right parties openly defy established social norms. As breaching such norms comes with social sanctions, voters are likely to privately support the party and its policies but refrain from engaging in public manifestations of that support. However, the parliamentary entry of a radical right party can represent a crucial step in the normalisation of radical right discourse and ideology. Being part of the legislative body of the country is a signal of acceptance that can make voters perceive social norms against the expression of radical right support as being weaker. This can make individuals more likely to openly show their support for the radical right.

This argument, however, is hard to test empirically because one cannot know what an individual’s true preferences are if they are consciously concealing them. I overcome this problem with three complementary studies. The first provides comparative evidence of my argument, taking advantage of the fact that the vote share for radical right parties is consistently underreported in post-electoral surveys. This is likely to happen because a survey interview is still a social interaction and, as such, social norms are likely to influence the answers provided by respondents. They can feel judged by the interviewer and try to provide what they perceive as the socially desirable answer. [...]

Full study

© LSE