Dealing with Radical Right Parties in Distinct Arenas

Abstract

Abstract In this article, we develop and apply a typology of formal and substantive party responses to the radical right in three arenas: parliament, party competition, and the media. We argue that these provide distinct environments for parties’ scope of action, which is why responses must always be understood in the light of their respective context. Empirically, we focus on the case of the Federal Republic of Germany and illustrate the usefulness of our model by analyzing the responses of the largest conservative and social democratic mainstream parties in the Bundestag (CDU/CSU and SPD) to the Alternative for Germany (AfD) between 2017 and 2022. Although both coalition partners have primarily excluded the AfD at the formal and substantive level, we find crucial differences in their response patterns between the arenas and highlight future research perspectives.