Premium
A Welfare State for Whom? A Group‐based Account of the Austrian Freedom Party's Social Policy Profile
Author(s) -
EnnserJedenastik Laurenz
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
swiss political science review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.632
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1662-6370
pISSN - 1424-7755
DOI - 10.1111/spsr.12218
Subject(s) - ideology , retrenchment , welfare state , populism , authoritarianism , social policy , political science , argument (complex analysis) , state (computer science) , political economy , left wing politics , sociology , public administration , politics , law , biochemistry , chemistry , democracy , algorithm , computer science
Abstract What explains the social policy profile of populist radical right parties ( PRRP s)? Building on the argument made by Mudde (2007) that socio‐economic policies are secondary elements within the populist radical right ideology, this paper conjectures that the primary elements of that ideology (nativism, authoritarianism, and populism) structure the PRRP 's attitudes in the social policy domain. Based on a discussion of the PRRP 's core ideology a number of expectations are derived as to which groups should be viewed as deserving or undeserving of support. These expectations are examined through an analysis of the social policies put forward in the election manifestos of the Austrian Freedom Party ( FPÖ ) between 1983 and 2013. The analysis confirms most of the expectations and highlights an important shift in the FPÖ 's social policy agenda, from welfare populist arguments and some retrenchment proposals under Jörg Haider to strong welfare chauvinism after the leadership change in 2005.