The Paradox of the Anti-Party Party

Abstract

On the basis of an extensive analysis of the party literature of three extreme-right parties, the paradox of the anti-party party is studied. Two types of anti-party sentiments are distinguished: extremist and populist. The first type holds a rejection of the political party per se and seems to have gone out of vogue. The second type holds a critique of certain parties either on the basis of their policies or their behaviour. It is these sentiments that are (omni)present, in different interlinked themes, in the literature of extreme-right parties. They serve, on the one hand, to help them to profit from the existing anti-party sentiments at the mass level and, on the other hand, to help them present themselves in a positive manner, by self-defining the party as the opposite of the other parties. It is thus that the paradox of the anti-party parties can exist.