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Preemptive versus Accommodative Adjustment: Ideological Resemblance Between
Established Parties and Extreme Right-wing Parties in Five Advanced
Industrialized Democracies, 1945-1998
Odul Celep
Department of Political Science
Binghamton University (SUNY)
P.O. Box 6000
Binghamton, New York 13902-6000
## email not listed ## [email]
Aida Paskeviciute
Department of Political Science
Binghamton University (SUNY)
P.O. Box 6000
Binghamton, New York 13902-6000
## email not listed ## [email]
Abstract
Although students of democratic politics believe that right-wing extremism pose a threat
to democratic norms and institutions, existing research tells us very little about the
consequences of the newly emerged extreme right-wing parties (ERPs) across established
democracies. Drawing on party literature and spatial theories of party competition, as
well as the empirical data collected as part of the Manifestos Research Group (MRG)
project, our study examines how the ERPs have influenced the political agenda of
established democracies. Specifically, we argue that the rising electoral strength of the
ERPs alone is not a sufficient indicator of right-authoritarianism influence on country’s
political discourse. Instead, adjustment strategies by the established parties, such as
preemption and accommodation, should be taken account in order to provide a more
comprehensive picture of how rising right-wing extremism has structured the political
agenda of contemporary democracies.
Prepared for delivery at the 2004 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science
Association, September 2 - September 5, 2004. Copyright by the American Political
Science Association.