The Radical Right in Central and Eastern Europe Since 1989

by Ramet, Sabrina P.

• ISBN13: 9780271018119
• ISBN10: 0271018119
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-10-01
• Publisher: Pennsylvania State Univ Pr

Summary

With the collapse of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe between 1989 and 1991, right-wing extremist parties have emerged and claimed a prominence that they have not enjoyed since the early 1940s. The Radical Right in Central and Eastern Europe Since 1989 examines the activity of these groups in the region stretching from Germany to Russia. Few, if any, comparable books offer readers art overview of how the radical right is firing in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Russia. Among the countries reviewed, only Slovakia has right-wing extremists taking their seats as members of the ruling coalition. This volume shows that radical right activities can have pernicious effects even if right-wing extremists do not themselves succeed in obtaining seats in government. As the cases of Germany and Russia show, right-wing extremist parties may be capable of distorting the political agenda and forcing the government to take up issues that it might otherwise have ignored or treated differently. The Croatian and Serbian cases show that right-wing extremist parties may figure as part of a broader political milieu when their ideas are already accepted by the political mainstream.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	ix
Preface and Acknowledgments	xi
PART ONE Introduction
Defining the Radical Right: The Values and Behaviors of Organized Intolerance	3	(26)
Sabrina P. Ramet
Problems of Transition and the Rise of the Radical Right	29	(20)
Christopher Williams
Women and the Radical Right: Ethnocracy and Body Politics	49	(18)
Julie Mostov
PART TWO Central Europe
The Radical Right in Germany	67	(18)
Sabrina P. Ramet
The Radical Right in Poland: Rationality of the Irrational	85	(24)
David Ost
The Radical Right in Slovakia	109	(24)
Frank Cibulka
The Radical Right in Hungary	133	(14)
Laszlo Karsai
Radical Right Politics in Slovenia	147	(24)
Rudolf M. Rizman
The Radical Right in Croatia and Its Constituency	171	(22)
Ivan Grdesic
PART THREE The Balkans
Changing Fortunes of the Serbian Radical Right	193	(20)
Ognjen Pribicevic
The Mind of Romania's Radical Right	213	(20)
Michael Shafir
The Radical Right in Bulgaria	233	(24)
John D. Bell
PART FOUR Soviet Successor States
National-Socialism, Left Patriotism, or Superimperialism? The ``Radical Right'' in Russia	257	(22)
Christopher Williams
Stephen Hanson
The Radical Right in Ukraine	279	(44)
Roman Solchanyk
Afterword: Last Rights?	297	(26)
Roger Griffin
Notes	323	(40)
List of Contributors	363	(6)
Index	369