Ruperto Carola Ringvorlesung The Populist Radical Right – A Threat to Democracy

The populist radical right has become a defining feature of European politics. But what explains its rise, how do these parties mobilize support, and when do they become a threat to democracy? This lecture addresses these questions by combining conceptual clarification with a broader account of political change. It begins by defining the populist radical right through the combination of nativism, authoritarianism, and populism. It then situates the success of these parties in the context of changing cleavage structures and long-term shifts in party competition, focusing on the substantive conflicts that have fueled their rise. The lecture also examines the forms of mobilization through which populist radical right actors broaden their appeal, including the blurring of boundaries between electoral and protest politics and the use of digital communication to address different social groups. These dynamics reshape party competition and political participation alike. Finally, the lecture distinguishes between anti-establishment and anti-pluralist politics. It argues that populist radical right parties do not threaten democracy simply by challenging elites or established parties. The danger arises when exclusionary mobilization is combined with anti-pluralist claims that erode legitimate opposition and institutional constraints. Examples from Hungary and Germany illustrate these developments.

Pressemitteilung

Jun. Prof. Dr. Endre Borbáth is Junior Professor for Empirical-Analytical Participation Research at Heidelberg University and Emmy Noether Research Group Leader of “The New Climate Divide.” His research combines comparative politics and political sociology to study political participation, protest, party competition, cleavages, democracy, and climate-related mobilization in Europe. Using quantitative and mixed-methods approaches, he analyzes media data, surveys, and survey experiments to understand how transformations in European conflict structures shape both collective and individual political action. Before coming to Heidelberg, he held positions at Freie Universität Berlin and at the WZB Berlin Social Science Center. He earned his PhD in Political and Social Sciences from the European University Institute. His work focuses on Western, Central, and Eastern Europe.