The extreme right in contemporary Europe- a sign of the times or an enemy within the gates?

Harris, Geoffrey (2015) The extreme right in contemporary Europe- a sign of the times or an enemy within the gates? [Conference Proceedings] (Submitted)

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Abstract

This paper looks at the current situation in the European Union in general and the extent to which the outcome of the 2014 European Parliament elections do really amount to the “political earthquake” so widely referred to at the time. The deepening economic and social problems in many parts of Europe are part of the political context but do not explain the attraction of the radically different view of Europe’s future for which the extreme right stands. Seventy years after the end of the Second World War and 25 years since end of the Cold War, the success of these particular challengers may also represent a failure of the EU institutions and mainstream leaders to modernise their own narrative in a way which convinces a new generation of Europeans that the original idea behind this project remains relevant and worthy of support.

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