Political Extremism in Democracies: Combating Intolerance

by William M. Downs

Overview

When political 'extremists' - organized into parties that compete openly and successfully in democratic elections - enter the conventional institutional arena, how do mainstream actors react? This book deals with understanding how democracies respond to party-based extremism and with what consequences.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230340794
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	06/08/2012
Edition description:	2012
Pages:	238
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 5.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

WILLIAM M. DOWNS Associate Dean for Social and Behavioral Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences, an Associate Professor of Political Science, and the co-director of the Center for Human Rights and Democracy at Georgia State University, USA. He is the author of Coalition Government, Subnational Style: Multiparty Politics in Europe's Regional Parliaments and has published research articles on political parties, electoral behavior, legislative institutions, and extremism in such journals as Parliamentary Affairs, West European Politics, Electoral Studies, Government & Opposition, Journal of Contemporary European Studies, Contemporary Politics, and Perspectives on European Politics and Society. Downs has held a Fulbright research fellowship in Belgium, been a research fellow at Harvard University's Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, and served as a visiting faculty member at Aarhus University in Denmark.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables ix

Preface xi

List of Abbreviations xv

1 Pariahs in Their Midst: Organized Extremism and the Problem of Tolerance in Contemporary Democracies 1

2 Ignore, Isolate, Co-Opt, Collaborate, or Ban? Mapping Strategic Responses to Pariah Parties 25

3 Determinants of Democratic Defensiveness 53

4 Is the Cordon Sanitaire Effective? 81

5 The Moderating Effects of Incumbency? 111

6 Responding to Political Extremism without Succumbing to It 147

7 Ban the Bans, but Guard the Threshold? "Lessons" from Old to New Democracies 173

Notes 203

Bibliography 215

Index 229

Editorial Reviews

"Downs offers an original perspective on a classic yet timely paradox faced by liberal democracies: the degree to which the political system should tolerate parties that are not themselves tolerant of political or social pluralism. While the empirical examples are focused on extremist parties in Europe, the conceptual framework clearly extends beyond these particular cases to both fledgling and established democracies." - Benjamin Bowyer, Civic Engagement Research Group, Mills College

From the Publisher