Electoral success of the Freedom Party in Austria, List Pim Fortuyn in The Netherlands, the People's Party in Denmark and the National Front in France have demonstrated the appeal of parties that challenge the political establishment. This book seeks to explain why these parties have achieved a political breakthrough.

In contrast to prior research, which emphasizes the importance of socio-economic and institutional factors, these findings suggest that parties opposed to the establishment thrive in an environment where 'official' parties are close to each other ideologically, and when weak partisan attachments make voters sympathetic to their appeals. Drawing on a range of examples from countries across the world, this book provides a detailed comparative analysis of the conditions that encourage and maintain parties which challenge the establishment. It will appeal to students of Political Science and Comparative Politics, as well as those with research interests in political extremism.

List of Tables
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. Theoretical Background and Methodology
2.1 Why examine Anti-Political Establishment Parties?
2.2 Definitional Problems in the Literature
2.3 Defining the Anti-Political Establishment Party
2.4 How to identify an Anti-Political Establishment Party
2.5 Theoretical Background and Prior Research
2.6 Research Hypotheses and Methodology
3. Anti-Political Establishment Parties in Nineteen Democracies
4. Testing the Hypotheses
4.1 Electoral System Features
4.2 A Tradition of Strong Anti-Political Establishment Parties in the Past
4.3 The Economic Condition of a Country
4.4 Collusion between the Main Establishment Parties
4.5 Party System Features
4.6 Availability of Voters
5. Testing Multivariate Regression Models
6. Conclusion
Appendix A
Appendix B Bibliography