How do economic anxieties influence radical right populist sentiments within the European Union?

Abstract

Radical right populism (RRP) has transformed political discourse in the European Union. As such, different causal mechanisms are presented in past literature. This thesis centers around the economic anxieties that influence radical right populist sentiments. Automation and globalization are theorized to be the main drivers behind these economic anxieties, which were then reinforced by the financial crisis. In this, the empirical focus is on individual sentiments and perceptions of real structural developments.

The thesis argues that economic anxieties have a large influence on radical right populist sentiments. However, it is because of the political and economic environment, that economic and cultural sentiments become intertwined and the RRP-framework of argumentation takes shape. Because of this interplay and complexity, it is necessary to take an interdisciplinary approach, using both economic and political science literature.

As such, the thesis uses structural equation modeling to assess the hypothesized model. Because of this, the thesis contributes a large scale confirmatory factor analysis in which the important factors are measured as latent variables. A path analysis is used to assess for causal relations. By doing so, the thesis finds that it is not that surprising that people experiencing economic anxiety turn to radical right populism.