Papers > By author > Becker Joachim

Already many years ago, the political economist Peter Gowan perceived the potential of a rise of the nationalist right in Eastern Europe. The nationalist right has been able to realise this potential – in particular in the wake of the great international crisis. The focus of the political and academic debate on the right-wing forces is on the authoritarian tendencies and xenophobia of these forces, their economic and social policy proposals and policies are much less debated. Usually, the right-wing parties are classified as “populist”. The paper argues that the concepts of “populism” are analytically weak and even misleading. Based on their programmes, it perceives the parties as being nationalist. It proposes a classification of nationalist right-wing parties according to predominantly neo-liberal, national-conservative and fascist orientations. Based on this classification, it will analyse the programmes, and in the case of Hungary and Poland, the praxis of the nationalist right in regard to the state project, the economic and social policies and the concepts of nationalism. Socio-economic programmes and praxis of the nationalist right will be related to the position of the respective countries in the European division of labour.