The nature, causes, and consequences of the far right

Believed dead and buried after World War 2, the far right has risen like a zombie from the ashes of deindustrialising towns to once again plague the polities of the trans-Atlantic region. The electoral success of Trump and Brexit made the ‘elites’ pay attention, but it’s only recently that we’ve come to understand enough about what happened in 2016 to give a thorough accounting. Here to help us understand the nature, causes, and consequences of the far right is Dr Diane Bolet, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Durham University and Research Fellow in Political Science at the University of Zurich. Drawing on qualitative studies of French and Spanish former coal mining communities and quantitative evidence from studies of community pub closures in the UK, Diane mounts a compelling thesis about the roots of the far right lying in the disintegration of social and cultural cohesion more so than economic decay or prejudicial racism. It's a fresh take straight from the knowledge frontier to your ear drums. 

Papers and other links from this episode:

https://www.dianebolet.com/

Local Labour Market Competition and Radical Right Voting: Evidence from France. European Journal of Political Research, 2020.

Drinking Alone: Local Socio-Cultural Degradation and Radical Right Voting - The Case of British Pub Closures. Comparative Political Studies, 2021. 

Fabian, M., Breunig, R., and De Neve, J. (2020). Bowling With Trump: Racial Identification, Economic Anxiety, and Well-Being in the 2016 Presidential Election. Brookings Institution Working Paper.

Tim Carney (2019). Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse. Harper Collins.