2022/09/07 by Sandra Léon, Matthias Scantamburlo · 1 voice · 8 citations
Social Sciences · #Competition (biology) #Conservatism #Electoral Systems and Political Participation #Electoral geography #German legal, social, and political studies #Identity (music) #Law #Left-wing politics #Political economy #Political science #Politics #Populism #Populism, Right-Wing Movements #Radical right #Right wing #Sociology
paper · open access · doi:10.1177/13540688221122336
published in Party Politics 29(6), 1051-1062 (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2022/09/07 · openalex created_date 2022/09/15 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
The study of electoral competition of populist radical right (PRR) parties has mostly focused on the national and supranational levels, leaving the subnational arena unexplored. This article contributes to filling this gap by theorizing on PRR parties’ strategic behaviour in regional elections and testing the hypotheses using the Alternative for Germany (AfD) as a case study. Combining new Regional Manifestos Project data with a qualitative exploration, the article shows that the AfD has adapted to a regional frame of competition in different ways. While its radical conservatism on cultural issues is cross-regionally homogenous, the positions in other dimensions do significantly vary across Länder, revealing a mix of economically rightist and leftist positions as well as a mix of national and regional identity appeals. The latter are combined with differentiated and conflictive competential demands. These findings pave the way for a more ambitious research agenda on PRR substate competition, which so far has been limited by the lack of comparable data.