Dr Lenka Buštíková Siroky's book on the rise of the far right in Eastern Europe is published in paperback
Focusing on the rising support for the populist right in Eastern Europe, Extreme Reactions: Radical Right Mobilization in Eastern Europe examines how anger and resentment towards minorities is being employed in politics.
In the book, Associate Professor in European Union and Comparative East European Politics Dr Lenka Buštíková Siroky details the process by which the gaining of political power and demand for rights by rising minority groups causes a backlash of mobilization from the radical right.
However, she also argues that prejudice against minorities is not a sentiment exclusive to right-wing voters and is not the root cause of increasing support for the radical right.
Rather, this study reveals variation in how minorities are accommodated by the government and explains the electoral successes and failures of radical right parties.
By examining the capitalisation on these feelings of discontent towards politically assertive minorities and with the governmental policies that yield to their demands, Bustikova reveals volatile, mood-dependent conditions under which once fringe right-wing parties have risen to prominent but precarious positions of power.
The key point is that policy changes that disrupt the status quo between the ruling majority and a politicized minority will lead to a backlash. In the long term, it is possible to advance minority rights, but when minorities acquire power and demand rights, radical right mobilization follows.
Dr Buštíková Siroky said: “I was moved by a book written by Norbert Elias and John Scotson, The Established and the Outsiders, a study of a small British community in the 1950s.
“My book shows that the tension between the dominant group determined to preserve the current order and aspirational minorities is at the core of right-wing mobilization.”
Dr Buštíková Siroky is currently working on a series of articles about the social origins of illiberalism in Central Eastern Europe.
My book shows that the tension between the dominant group determined to preserve the current order and aspirational minorities is at the core of right-wing mobilization
