The Media and the Far Right in Western Europe

'Antonis Ellinas transcends conventional accounts of the Far Right's success and failure in this lucidly written book. Many scholars have suggested that the media shapes the development of these parties, but Ellinas shows exactly why and how it does. His argument that mainstream parties, by first playing and later retracting the nationalist card, contributed to the success of the Far Right is novel, persuasive, and disturbing. And by taking a temporal perspective, Ellinas moves beyond the snapshot approaches that have dominated the subfield. This book – both rigorous and sensitive to historical context – will not only reshape our understanding of Far Right parties. By linking the Far Right phenomenon to broader issues in party politics, political communication, and nationalism and immigration, Ellinas demonstrates its relevance to students of comparative politics more generally.' David Art, Tufts University
'The impact of the national media on the electoral fortunes of extreme right-wing parties has been an unduly neglected explanatory factor in the political science literature. Ellinas's original and well-documented comparative-historical analysis of four Western European countries brilliantly remedies this lacuna, showing how the media can exert a decisive influence on the trajectory of extreme right-wing parties at a critical phase of their development. This excellent book will constitute essential reading for scholars working on the extreme right in Western and Eastern Europe alike.' Giovanni Capoccia, University of Oxford
'Antonis Ellinas provides a first-rate analysis of the Far Right in Western Europe. Support for the Far Right in European politics has risen dramatically over the past decades and academic attention has increased accordingly. The empirical focus of The Media and the Far Right in Western Europe is thus of both practical and scholarly import. More important, however, is that although there is already a sizeable literature on the topic, Ellinas provides a fresh take on the subject matter, emphasizing political rather than sociological and economic variables.' Sheri Berman, Barnard College, Columbia University
'… the arguments the author offers are original and definitely contribute to the issue of the far right in Europe … the language, style and organisation of the book are successful … this is definitely a very valuable resource, especially for students of comparative politics who might be dealing with European politics, party politics or the radical right.' Pinar Sayan, Political Studies Review