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The impact of populist radical right parties on foreign policy: the Northern League as a junior coalition partner in the Berlusconi Governments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 December 2014

Bertjan Verbeek  and
Andrej Zaslove
Bertjan Verbeek*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Institute for Management Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Andrej Zaslove
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Institute for Management Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands
*
*E-mail: b.verbeek@fm.ru.nl, a.zaslove@fm.ru.nl
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Abstract

Despite the populist radical right’s (PRR) popularity among political scientists, little scholarship has focused on its influence on foreign policy. This lack of study is due, in part, to a general lack of attention to the role of political parties in foreign policy, both in comparative politics and international relations (IR). This is unfortunate because, due to Europeanization and globalization, the domain of foreign policy has expanded, making foreign policy increasingly a domestic concern and, most importantly, touching on major themes of PRR parties. Combining insights from comparative politics and IR, we theorize the mechanisms, which may facilitate the impact of such parties on foreign policy. Subsequently, we examine whether the Italian Northern League (LN), as a prime example of a PRR party participating in a coalition government, has had an impact on Italy’s foreign policy and, if so, what accounts for this (lack of) influence. This paper concludes that, unlike common understanding, the PRR is not persistently anti-internationalist/anti-EU; rather, its position depends on the extent to which international politics helps or hinders the promotion of ‘the people’. Second, despite the LN’s strong coalition position, it pursued an effective foreign policy mainly regarding immigration policy. Third, IR theories of junior coalition partners and foreign policy should address the nature of the party system and how inter-party electoral competition affects the strength of a junior coalition partner. Fourth, these theories need to acknowledge that party preferences are sometimes trumped by national concerns, as suggested by more systemic IR theories.

Keywords

foreign policypopulismpopulist radical rightItalyNorthern LeagueBerlusconi
Type
Research Article
Information
European Political Science Review , Volume 7 , Issue 4 , November 2015 , pp. 525 - 546
Copyright
© European Consortium for Political Research 2014 

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