Episode 13 - Sarah de Lange. The Radical Right in Government

In this episode, I talk to Sarah de Lange who is professor at the University of Amsterdam. We talk about her article “New Alliances: Why Mainstream Parties Govern with Radical Right-Wing Populist Parties” which was published in 2012 in Political Studies. In the article, Sarah applies theories of coalition formation to governments that formed with a radical right party. While these types of governments used to be quite rare, they have become increasingly common in Europe in the past 20 years. For parties of the mainstream right these coalitions provide an opportunity as an alternative to governing with the mainstream left. For radical right parties themselves joining these coalitions has been quite risky as government participation leads to increased scrutiny and might frustrate some of their voters. While government participation thus constituted a big challenge for the radical right, over the years these parties have learned and improved their behavior. Once in government, they now focus on specific portfolios that suit their agenda. If you want to learn more about Sarah and her research you can follow her on Twitter under at SLdeLange or visit her website https://www.uva.nl/en/profile/l/a/s.l.delange/s.l.delange.html I hope you enjoy the conversation Reading recommendation: Cas Mudde 2019: The Far Right Today. Polity Books. https://politybooks.com/?s=The+Far+Right+Today Also discussed on this podcast in episode 4