Should the Norwegian Progress Party be considered as members of the Populist Radical Right Party Family? A Qualitative Analysis of the Authoritarian, Nativist and Populist Elements in the Norwegian Progress Party

Abstract

This thesis started with a simple question that teased my interest, does Norway have a populist radical right party? Most European countries do, and the literature was unclear as to whether the Norwegian Progress Party (FrP) should be considered members of this party family. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to clear the air with regards to the FrP and investigate whether this party is in fact a populist radical right party, based on the criterions of membership laid out by Mudde (2007), identified as the ideological features of authoritarianism, nativism and populism. I have chosen the methodological approach of qualitative content analysis to analyze whether the FrP should be considered a populist radical right party. I have analyzed official party documents, meaning the party’s website and their election manifestos, arguing that these documents constitute the core ideological features of this party. What I have found, and will argue throughout this thesis, is that the official party literature of the FrP contains enough evidence of the core ideological features of the Populist Radical Right to include the party in this party family.