The rising populist radical right in Western Europe and its effects on the European Union: Cases of Austria, Netherlands and France

The populist radical right, which emerged in Western Europe after 1980's, has become visible in the European political scene with the 1990s. This party family is the main subject of the current political developments in Western Europe via becoming powerful political actors with the vote maximization at the local, national and European levels. The programs and discourses of the populist radical right parties that divide the society into two poles as us and them on the basis of populism and nativism, and a conjuncture where these marginal discourses become mainstream, are the reasons for the increasing interest towards these parties in the society. However, the high vote rates they receive at different levels draws attention to the factors contributing to the success of these parties. This study attempts to answer the questions of "What is the ideology of populist radical right parties?" and "What are the factors affecting the rise of the populist radical right after the 1990s?" The aim of this study is to analyze the anti-foreign, anti-immigrant and anti-Islamic discourses of populist radical right parties towards the "other". In the case study, the discourses of Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) in Austria, Freedom Party (PVV) in Netherlands and Rassemblement National (RN) in France are analyzed. As a result of the analysis, it is determined that the discourses of the three parties examined are similar to one another towards foreigners, immigration and in anti-Islamism. At the same time, it was determined that other topics in the programs of these parties are used as a tool to legitimize anti-immigration and Islamophobia. The fact that the populist radical right parties come together under the umbrella of the Democracy and Identity (ID) party group in the European Parliament proves that these parties have not only a national but also a supranational influence. For this reason, in this study, populist radical right parties are examined both at the national and European levels. In this direction, the impact of the Eurosceptic populist radical right parties and their influence on the European Union has been analyzed.