Conclusions

Abstract

A summary view of the radical right in Eastern Europe reveals that despite its organizational and electoral volatility it has not remained on the political margins; major parties as well as governments have adopted parts of their agenda, as Hungary and Poland illustrate most vividly. While in general the same can be said about Western Europe, the evidence shows that the radical right in Eastern Europe adds a particularly pervasive challenge to the democratic order in a number of countries and to the region’s politics. This can be read off the radical right’s ideological extremism, its electoral volatility in the context of under-institutionalized party systems, and the easy contagion of the mainstream discourse by the radical right’s message, which resonates more widely in Eastern societies than in the West.