This book addresses a significant gap in the scholarship on east European radical right actors which, in comparison to western Europe, remain under-researched. The structural design of the book facilitates a seamless traversal through the three levels of analysis implemented within this scholarly inquiry. This meticulously crafted arrangement serves as an anchor, leading readers through the content in a clear and purposeful manner. The book, in particular, aims to “shed light on the processes of interaction of the radical right with its social and political environment” (26), a process also visually represented by the authors in the theoretical model. The authors’ focus on the interaction between the radical right and mainstream parties is particularly welcomed in the context of eastern Europe, where the influence of the radical right on mainstream parties’ positions and policymaking has been largely void of comparative, in-depth analyses.

Michael Minkenberg and Zsuzsanna Végh effectively employ a case study approach to their analysis of the radical right’s impact across the different levels of analysis and in a select number of EU member states. The authors argue that mainstream parties’ engagement with the radical right actors, through cooperation or co-optation, results in the shift toward the right in their stances and policies targeting ethnic and national minorities as well as refugees and asylum-seekers. This argument has been explored through a meticulous analysis of position and policy shifts of mainstream parties in Slovakia, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, and Romania. Additionally, the analysis yields an interesting observation that once policy shifts toward the right occur, they tend to remain in place or become “sticky” (165). In the Czech Republic and Estonia, where mainstream parties did not cooperate with the radical right, the authors find that mainstream “party positions remained unaffected” (123), and that there were no noticeable changes in minority-related policies that could be attributed to the radical right forces in those countries. In Ch. 5, Minkenberg and Végh’s argument centers on the detrimental effect the radical right actors have on the quality of democracy, which has been declining across most east European countries. In instances where the radical right gained prominence, the authors conclude that democratic quality has diminished, leading them to question the survival of liberal democracy in eastern Europe.

While Minkenberg and Végh have meritoriously pursued their analysis in a select number of EU member states, counter-mobilization of civil society, presented as one of the explanatory variables in the theoretical model, has received limited attention throughout the cross-country analysis. An in-depth analysis of the authors’ archival research and interviews with civil society actors would have been welcomed. Furthermore, the authors’ analysis of mainstream parties’ policy shifts would have benefited from integrating a broader range of policy areas (beyond the two covered in this book) to better capture any subtle but potentially noteworthy variations in policy changes across different policy areas. However, these are minor shortcomings and do not diminish the significant contribution the authors have made to the scholarship on the radical right. This book will be valuable to both scholars and policymakers who are interested in the role radical right actors play in east European EU member states.