Study title

The data consists of transcripts of elite interviews conducted by team members in the period October 2019-July 2021.The parties selected for investigation are all seasoned populist radical right parties which are well established within their party systems: the Lega per Salvini Premier (League – League for Salvini Premier); the Vlaams Belang (VB – Flemish Interest); Perussuomalaiset (PS – the Finns Party); and the Schweizerische Volkspartei/Union démocratique du centre (SVP/UDC – Swiss People’s Party). The selection offers variation in terms of the parties' national setting (federal vs. unitary systems; EU vs. non-EU countries), foundational characteristics (ex-nihilo organisations, such as the VB, vs. converted parties, such as the League, PS and SVP), and executive experience (all parties except VB). At the intra-party level, our sample covers three areas for each party. We have compared locations where support has traditionally been strong (e.g. Lombardy, Antwerp, Satakunta, Zurich) with others in which the parties have grown more recently and/or with more difficulty (e.g. Emilia-Romagna, East Flanders, Central Finland, Geneva). Therefore, in our selection of areas at the sub-national level we have sought to include both typical and less typical cases, allowing us to reveal diverging cultures and narratives within each party. This has helped us to provide a holistic picture of the varied ideological and organisational features of these parties at the local level, allowing detailed comparisons to be made. The research team conducted 125 original semi-structured elite interviews (EIs) with (leading) national and local party representatives and executives. Of these 93 are included here (i.e. interviews with respondents who have agreed that their transcript can be deposited with Reshare). The interviews were conducted with representatives from each of the four parties, with a well balanced mix of national representatives (MPs, national leaders, etc.),...