Extreme right parties in Western Europe /

Ignazi (Univ. of Bologna, Italy) documents the emergence in the last 20 years of a new brand of extreme right-wing party in Western European democracies. Bookended by analytic chapters that assess the sources and nature of this phenomenon are chapters that explore the programs and clientele of extreme-right parties on a country-by-country basis. The basic argument is that this new type of right-wing party has spurned the neofascism that often motivated its predecessors in favor of a focus on three key issues: anti-immigration, law and order, and hostility toward state regulation and taxation. While these parties claim to support the principles of liberal democracy, the author argues that their dream of a more unified, less pluralistic society means that they are essentially "anti-system" in nature. This view is bound to be controversial, but there is no gainsaying the thesis that they represent something new, and possibly quite threatening, on the political horizons of these democracies. Overall, this is a valuable compilation of a large literature on the extreme right in Europe that will interest many students of democracy and its prospects. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. P. V. Warwick Simon Fraser University