When Senator Goldwater stood for the US Presidency in 1964, satirists alleged that his slogan was to be: “I would rather be far right than be President”. The late Senator would appear a moderate by comparison with some of the politicians featured in this encyclopaedia. Vladimir Zhirinovsky, for instance, is so much opposed to immigration that he wishes to keep migratory birds out of Russia. But really the Far Right is no laughing matter, and deserves a reference book to explain it. The encyclopaedia has a rather complex structure, with its first half being subdivided into a dozen articles by different authors, some of these devoted to the Far Right in specific parts of Europe, and others to thematic aspects of it (for instance its relationship to Islam) and only the second half consisting of A‐Z articles on people, places, parties and events. It does not appear that the individual authors have read one another's texts, and this adds to the considerable amount of duplication inevitable in a book so arranged. For example, there are two separate accounts of the racial disturbances in Northern England in 2001. Had all this duplication been cut out, there would then have been room to increase the number of A‐Z entries, which is about 200, averaging a page in length. So out of the whole body of Far Right politicians in Europe since 1945, the editors have found space only for 30; just one of them is British, whereas even your non‐specialist reviewer could have named three or four other prominent right‐wingers – all mentioned fleetingly in the text – who do not have entries.
Several authors concur in finding it difficult to define “The Far Right”, a term which, as one of them declares, is in any case meaningful only in English. But they mostly agree in associating it with a bundle of common characteristics: anti‐Communism, xenophobia (of different kinds in each country), opposition to European federalism and globalism, and (especially important nowadays) opposition to immigration. These characteristics have not remained entirely constant over time. Traditional Fascism (whatever that much abused word really means) is now in rapid decline, and to a great extent anti‐Semitism has been replaced by anti‐Islamicism. Indeed, some Far Right parties now define their principles not in terms of race, but of culture (perceived as under threat). Within this general picture, however, many local variations are described: why should the Far Right be strong in Denmark and Portugal, but much weaker in Sweden and Spain? Is it a good or a bad idea for the moderate Right, as it does in some countries but not others, to take up issues that the Far Right had previously made its own, if they appear to be matters of genuine concern to many voters?
The supplementary material comprises a chronology from 1945 to 2008; a geographically classified bibliography of 180 items (mostly English‐language academic works); and a comprehensive index. There are a fairly small number of illustrations, and a map of Europe that shows little other than the locations of a few places significant to the development of the Far Right. Each chapter has a full outfit of references to relevant books, articles and web sites.
The editors of the encyclopaedia assert that it is not sufficient for politicians of moderate views to denounce the Far Right in general terms; if they are to rein it in, they will have to understand the reasons why it is a significant presence on the European scene. To this necessary process the encyclopaedia makes a useful contribution; and the results of the 2009 European Parliament election, in which for the first time ever the Far Right elected two parliamentary representatives in Britain, ensure that its findings will be of topical interest to many readers.
