Dr Daphne Halikiopoulou has co-written a post for The Washington Post’s ‘Monkey Cage’. The piece, titled ‘Far-right voters don’t dislike government. They just want to keep its benefits for their own ethnic group.’ argues that the far-right gains when citizens distrust their government.
‘Protest voting implies punishing those who are held responsible, and therefore accountable, for poor policies that lack legitimacy. The “punished” tend to be the incumbent or mainstream parties, associated with existing state policies. When citizens vote for protest parties, they are saying they are unhappy with how the state is working.’