The rise of the populist-right and why it matters 

The publication of this book coincides with the rise of populist right-wing parties in a number of European countries. The most recent is the True Finns in Finland, but there are similar examples in Hungary, Sweden, France and elsewhere. While the book aknowledges the sometimes crucial differences that can exist between these individual parties, it is also true that they share many attributes. These include focusing their grievences on minorities, railing against so-called "elites" and always a high level of euroscepticism. 

How should the Green movement confront such a challenge? And does this challenge present an opportunity to put forth a positive, Green message on Europe, immigration and the socio-economic challenges that we face in the 21st Century? This book attempts to answer these questions, and its contributors offer varying and diverse opinions on the origins of this trend, and what an effective response should be.

As Erica Meijers states in her introduction, the reader will at times find contradicting opinions and analyses in this book. This underlines the complexity of this issue, and shows it to be fertile ground for debate and discussion.

Continuing the debate

GEF will expand the debate of the book through a number of events on this topic. GEF have already organised a panel discussion at the European Green Summer University in Franfurt-Oder and at a fringe event on the topic at the Green Party of England and Wales autumn conference. Both events took place on the weekend of September 10/11 2011. This was followed by a transnational seminar in Helsinki, Finland in December 2011. In 2012 the special focus of GEF's work will lie on Central and Eastern European variants of right-wing populism. 

Purchase your copy today

"Populism in Europe" is edited by Erica Meijers of Bureau de Helling, the research foundation of the Dutch Green Pary (GroenLinks). The publication was produced in cooperation with PlanetVerlag, the publishing house of the Austrian foundation Grünen Bildungswerkstatt, and Bureau de Helling.

The book is available to purchase online from Planet Verlag. 

You can also purchase copies of the book by calling into our office: 15 Rue d'Arlon, Brussels 1050.

Table of contents

• Introduction (Erica Meijers)
• The Temptation to Over-Simplify: Why Populism Poses a Danger to Europe (Daniel Cohn-Bendit & Edouard Gaudot)
• The New National Individualism: Populism is Here to Stay (Dick Pels)
• Adversaries or Competitors: The Rise of Green and Radical Right-wing Populist Parties (Sarah L. de Lange, Wouter van der Brug & Inger Baller) 
• European Dreams, Nationalist Ambitions: Internationalism in Populist Movements (Oyvind Strommen)
• The Quality and Future of Democracy: Two Decades of Free Elections in Central Europe (Sona Szomolanyi)
• Lifting the Veil: Populists and Women's Rights (Olga Pietruchova)
• Populist Realism: Vox Populi and the Postpolitical (Merijn Oudenampsen)
• The Spiral of Noise and Attention Seeking: Right-wing Populism and the Media (Robert Misk)
• Imagination in Power: The Social-political Conditions of Italian Media Populism (Marco Jacquemet)
• The Politics of Fear and Belonging: The Socio-Economic Breeding Ground of Populism (Barbara Hoheneder)
• Freedom and Security in the Twenty-first Century: Green Alternatives (Dirk Holemans)

You can download the introduction to the book for free, which will give you an insight into the book's chapters and what the authors discuss and propose.

Book review

Andreas Novy, director of the Austrian Green foundation Grüne Bildungswerkstatt has contributed a book review of "Populism for Europe" which is available for download below.