Joost van Spanje The Wrong and the Right: A Comparative Analysis of ‘Anti-Immigration’ and ‘Far Right’ Parties ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN ESTABLISHED democracies over the last two decades has been the emergence of political parties that are right wing in terms of ideology and restrictive in terms of immigration policy. 1 In the relevant literature these parties are commonly referred to either in terms of ideology – as right wing 2 – or in terms of policy – most importantly, in favour of immigration restriction. 3 These labels appear to pertain to very similar, if not identical, sets of parties. 4 This brings us to the question: does it matter 1 e.g. Michael Gallagher, Michael Laver and Peter Mair, Representative Government in Modern Europe, 4th edn, Boston, McGraw-Hill, 2006. 2 e.g. Cas Mudde, The Ideology of the Extreme Right, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2000; Cas Mudde, Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2007; Piero Ignazi, ‘The Silent Counter-Revolution: Hypotheses on the Emergence of Extreme Right-Wing Parties in Europe’, European Journal of Political Research, 22: 3 (1992), pp. 3–34; Piero Ignazi, Extreme Right Parties in Western Europe, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2003; Herbert Kitschelt and Anthony McGann, The Radical Right in Western Europe: A Comparative Analysis, Ann Arbor, Uni- versity of Michigan, 1995; Klaus von Beyme, ‘Right-Wing Extremism in Post-War Europe’, West European Politics, 11: 2 (1988), pp. 1–18. 3 e.g. Tor Bjørklund and Jørgen Goul Andersen, ‘Anti-Immigration Parties in Denmark and Norway’, in M. Schain, A. Zolberg and P. Hossay (eds), Shadows Over Europe: The Development and Impact of the Extreme Right in Western Europe, Houndmills, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002; Meindert Fennema, ‘Some Conceptual Issues and Problems in the Comparison of Anti-Immigrant Parties in Western Europe’, Party Politics,3 (1997), pp. 473–92; Rachel Gibson, The Growth of Anti-Immigrant Parties in Western Europe, Lewiston, NY, Edwin Mellen Press, 2002; Wouter Van der Brug, Meindert Fennema and Jean Tillie, ‘Why Some Anti-Immigrant Parties Fail and Others Succeed: A Two-Step Model of Aggregate Electoral Support’, Comparative Political Studies, 38: 5 (2005), pp. 537–73. 4 These parties have also been classified on the basis of other characteristics, such as populism (Hans-Georg Betz, Radical Right-Wing Populism in Western Europe, London, Government and Opposition, Vol. 46, No. 3, pp. 293–320, 2011 doi:10.1111/j.1477-7053.2011.01340.x © The Author 2011. Government and Opposition © 2011 Government and Opposition Ltd Published by Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.