without a large ethnic minority population, right-wing mainstream parties should take liberal positions in order to ultimately keep illiberal discourses at bay, thereby undermining the electoral credibility of radical right parties promoting extreme and exclusionary cultural policies in society. Leaving aside the fact that right-wing mainstream parties’ illiberal positions increased the electoral strength of radical right parties in countries without a large ethnic minority population, the former’s Europhile position on the issue of Europeanization appears to have been at least as important in allowing the latter to achieve electoral success. As mentioned in the previous chapter, various studies in the literature on EU-issue voting conclude that the issue of Europeanization can affect electoral preferences not only in European Parliamentary elections but also in national parliamentary elections (Tillman, 2004; Hooghe and Marks, 2008; Dechezelles and Neumayer, 2010; Sum, 2010; De Vries and Tillman, 2011). Remember that CEECs experienced the process of Europeanization starting in the late 1990s. During that period, both PiS and SDS held a Europhile positions on the issue. They advised their supporters to cast a vote in EU accession referenda. The PiS campaigned in the referendum ‘yes’ under the banner of Strong Poland in Europe’. At the time, the leader of the ‘A PiS, Jaroslaw Kacyznski, argued that integration with the EU would ‘Poland’s make it possible for the country to exert influence on European economy and international politics’ (BBC Monitoring European, 27 April 2003). Similarly, SDS’s leader, Janez Jansa, labelled Slovene membership as a good development at the ceremony, which was organized to celebrate the country’s admission to the EU. As a result, LPR and SNS became the only right-wing parties who could
without a large ethnic minority population, right-wing mainstream parties should take liberal positions in order to ultimately keep illiberal discourses at bay, thereby undermining the electoral credibility of radical right parties promoting extreme and exclusionary cultural policies in society. Leaving aside the fact that right-wing mainstream parties’ illiberal positions increased the electoral strength of radical right parties in countries without a large ethnic minority population, the former’s Europhile position on the issue of Europeanization appears to have been at least as important in allowing the latter to achieve electoral success. As mentioned in the previous chapter, various studies in the literature on EU-issue voting conclude that the issue of Europeanization can affect electoral preferences not only in European Parliamentary elections but also in national parliamentary elections (Tillman, 2004; Hooghe and Marks, 2008; Dechezelles and Neumayer, 2010; Sum, 2010; De Vries and Tillman, 2011). Remember that CEECs experienced the process of Europeanization starting in the late 1990s. During that period, both PiS and SDS held a Europhile positions on the issue. They advised their supporters to cast a ‘yes’ vote in EU accession referenda. The PiS campaigned in the referendum under the banner of ‘A Strong Poland in Europe’. At the time, the leader of the PiS, Jaroslaw Kacyznski, argued that ‘Poland’s integration with the EU would make it possible for the country to exert influence on European economy and international politics’ (BBC Monitoring European, 27 April 2003). Similarly, SDS’s leader, Janez Jansa, labelled Slovene membership as a good development at the ceremony, which was organized to celebrate the country’s admission to the EU. As a result, LPR and SNS became the only right-wing parties who could
Mustafa%20Cagatay%20Aslan_Dissertation.docx