Close to Home

'Close to Home succeeds in overturning what has become a pretty static view of radical right voters. Jennifer Fitzgerald's central contribution is to theorize localism and measure its impact through rigorous statistical tests. Fascinatingly, it turns out that localism works more through ideational mechanisms - feelings toward one's immediate surrounding - than through interpersonal contact. Imagined localism increases support for the radical right, but actual interactions with neighbors decreases it. And perhaps most interestingly, Fitzgerald shows that localism has helped with two constituencies in which the radical right has historically performed poorly: female voters and voters who identify as left-of-center. This is a novel, sophisticated, and compelling take on one of the most important political dynamics in advanced industrial societies.' David Art, Tufts University, Massachusetts
'In the tradition of Lazarsfeld, Fitzgerald's book develops a localist model of radical right support. A brilliant and original demonstration, based on a wealth of comparative survey data, showing how much neighborhood and community ties matter.' Nonna Mayer, Emerita CNRS Research Director, Sciences Po, Paris
'While country specialists have always been aware of the huge regional differences in support for the radical right, the comparative study of radical Right-Wing mobilization has for a long time focused almost exclusively on the level of the nation state. This is changing rapidly: the question of how local conditions and - perhaps more importantly - beliefs about local conditions and communities facilitate or hinder mobilization by the radical right is becoming one of the most important issue in this field of research. Professor Fitzgerald has written the first book-length treatise on this issue. She provides a concise theoretical framework and ample empirical evidence. Without doubt, her book will shape the development of the subfield.' Kai Arzheimer, University of Mainz, Germany