AbstractsPolitical Science

This study takes a closer look at the British National Party (BNP) in the context of contemporary European far-right politics. Influenced by rising media attention for the BNP and by the fascinating debate on how to explain far-right electoral success, two closely linked questions are asked: How should the BNP be categorised? and what explains its electoral performance? Various authors have described the BNP as an extreme right or neo-fascist party while others have put it in the populist radical right family as defined by Cas Mudde. Against a backdrop of Mudde’s theoretic framework, official BNP publications are researched and discussed leading to the conclusion that the party belongs in the populist radical right mould. That conclusion begs the question why the BNP performs relatively poorly in national elections compared to the likes of Front National and Vlaams Belang. Comparing the three parties in a most similar systems design, assessing the explanatory value of different variables, the analysis shows that the BNP’s lack of success is most likely explained by Britain’s party system, unfavourable conditions of competition from other parties and an unfavourable relationship with the media. Without harbouring ambitions of definitive answers, this study seeks to contribute both to a greater understanding of the BNP and to add to the already impressive but nonetheless still developing theories of far-right politics.