After the capitulation of Nazi Germany, the country was briefly occupied and divided into zones by the main four allied forces (France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States). Because of the occupation and the allied denazification policy, political organisations were initially severely hindered in their development. They could, for instance, only organise at the community and later the zone level (Backes and Jesse 1993). Moreover, the fact that only parties with a democratic character could contest elections limited the electoral possibilities of right-wing extremist movements. The ending of the Allied controlled licence duty for political parties...

While the NPD was slipping further and further into oblivion in the 1980s, dissatisfaction was building up on the right of theUnionparties. Their open support for the process of European integration and hidden support for (or at least acceptance of) the so-calledOstpolitik,the normalisation of relations with the communist states initiated by former SPD premier Willy Brandt, led to much criticism in as well as outside the parties. Originally, the protest was voiced primarily within the CDU/CSU or through non-party political movements (Jaschke 1994). In 1983 CSU leader Franz Josef Strauß supported a credit of over ten...

One of the most influential people in the German post-war extreme right scene is Gerhard Frey, the multi-millionaire media czar who owns and publishes several newspapers (see Müller 1989: 66–74; Backes and Jesse 1993: 295–7; Mecklenburg 1999b). Born in 1933 into a traditional national-conservative merchant family, Frey first worked for theDeutsche Soldatenzeitung(German Soldiers Newspaper,DSZ) and later bought 50 per cent of its stock. During the 1960s his publishing company acquired the rest of the stock and Frey became both publisher and chief editor of the newspaper (Mayer 1998: 185). He bought several other right-wing newspapers...

Until the beginning of the First World War, the heterogenousVlaamse Beweging(Flemish Movement) was primarily cultural in orientation (see Willemsen 1969: 10–27). Its principal goal was the emancipation of the Dutch language (i.e. Flemish) and culture from the dominance of French speaking Belgium, and its supporters looked favourably upon a multinational Belgian state. The First World War led to a split in the movement: a small section collaborated with the Germans and, led by theRaad van Vlaanderen(Council of Flanders), proclaimed the independence of Flanders on 22 December 1917; the majority of the movement remained loyal to...

On 28 May 1979 the VNP was disbanded and the political partyVlaams Blok(Flemish Block, VB) was founded as a fusion of the VNP and the nationalist wing of the VVP (Gijsels 1992: 88; Dewinter and Van Overmeire 1993: 91–3). Dillen (VNP) became party leader and Piet Bocken (VVP) deputy leader. Shortly thereafter Bocken was replaced by Roeland Raes (VVP), who continues to fill this post in 1999. For the first few years the VB remained a small splinter party that drew its strength almost exclusively from the efforts and reputation of Dillen, Raes and party secretary Jaak...

Following the end of the Second World War the Dutch process of denazification began with the internment of some 100,000 collaborators. Several former members of theNationaal Socialistische Beweging in Nederland(National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands, NSB), the only legal Dutch political party during the German occupation, and of the (Waffen-) SS lost their political rights, mostly for several years (see Bank 1998). The ‘Besluit Ontbinding Landverraderlijke Organisaties’ (Resolution concerning the Dissolution of Treasonable Organisations), which was signed by Queen Wilhelmina in London on 17 September 1944, led to the ban on the NSB and some thirty other (National...

At ten o’clock in the morning of 7 November 1984 four people walked into a notary office in The Hague. Eleven minutes later they left again, having created theCentrumdemocraten(Centre Democrats, CD). Three of the founders were former (low-key) members of the CP. The same evening the party gained two more members, yet it would take four weeks before the seventh member, Hans Janmaat, would join the party. On 5 December 1984 Janmaat announced his new affiliation to the chairman of the Second Chamber. Because of legal technicalities Janmaat remained officially an independent MP.

From the moment Janmaat joined,...

After the expulsion of the Janmaat group at the end of 1984 the troubles of theCentrumpartijwere far from over. Party leader Konst was put under increasing pressure by his employer to resign as party chairman or lose his job as teacher at a state school; vice-chairman De Wijer had already been temporarily suspended as teacher at another state school (DNPP 1987; Schikhof 1998). Only a few months after the split Konst resigned and was succeeded by former party treasurer Albrecht Lier, (in) famous in the Netherlands for his claim to be an illegitimate son of prince Hendrik.¹ In...

Following the detailed analysis at the level of the individual parties, this chapter will now focus on the comparative dimension. At the core of this study is the idea of the party family, a distinct group of parties with a shared core ideology. In the following comparison the similarities of the ideologies of the five parties will therefore be at the fore, albeit in a manner which remains conscious of key differences.

On average the five parties distribute a moderate amount of literature, but there are also large differences within the group. Regarding the externally oriented literature, which is directed...