A Joint Venture? The Ideological Foundations of the Populist Radical Right's Economic Agenda Beyond Welfare Policies

Abstract

Recently, the socio‐economic agenda of populist radical right parties (PRRPs) has attracted growing scholarly interest, yet many studies focus specifically on positions on welfare policies. It is often argued that economic issues are of secondary importance to PRRPs, or that their positions are deliberately blurred to maximize electoral appeal. This article qualifies these assumptions by showing that PRRPs' economic policies are underpinned by a more consistent ideological logic than is commonly acknowledged. Drawing on a longitudinal qualitative analysis of four established PRRPs in Belgium, France, Italy and the Netherlands, we examine party positions across five economic policy domains. We find that PRRPs combine pro‐market commitments with nationalist‐protectionist elements. These issue positions are rendered coherent through a recurring repertoire of interpretative frames – economic chauvinism, populism and producerism – which operate as higher‐level justificatory schemata. These frames provide an enduring discursive structure through which PRRPs reconcile flexibility in policy content with ideological coherence.