Radical-right youth wings drive Europe's populist surge, and mainstream parties must respond by reforming their own youth politics and addressing young people's concerns
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/cas-mudde,https://www.theguardian.com/profile/duncan-mcdonnell. "Radical-right youth groups are at the root of Europe’s populist surge | Cas Mudde and Duncan McDonnell | The Guardian." November 2, 2026. www.theguardian.com
The Gist
Many of Europe's top far-right leaders started out running their party's youth wing, where they learned how to organise, speak, network and look respectable. The authors argue this pipeline makes the far right more professional and more electable without making it any less extreme. They say mainstream parties should fix their own youth wings and address young people's economic worries.
Conclusion
Youth wings are a key but overlooked engine of the populist radical right's success and regeneration, making it a more significant challenge to liberal democracy. Mainstream parties should respond by reforming their own youth wings and addressing the material problems facing young people.
Premises
- Many of the most successful populist radical right leaders in western Europe (Salvini, Bardella, Åkesson, Van Grieken, Meloni) previously led their parties' youth wings and credit that experience with shaping them.
- Youth wings recruit, train and promote future members, representatives and leaders, and also supply present-day benefits such as voter mobilisation, campaign labour, branch running and policy influence.
- Youth wings advance internationalisation (transnational alliances and networks), professionalisation (training in policy, rhetoric and media) and normalisation (articulate, university-educated, presentable recruits who make the parties seem legitimate).
- This smartening up of public image does not signal moderation; the young leaders remain committed to an exclusionary, nationalist ideology.
- Mainstream parties' youth wings are dominated by men, people from political families and careerists, and the postwar promise of better prospects for each generation has been broken by insecure employment and the housing crisis, leaving young people with little faith in mainstream parties.
- Young radical-right activists report that their parties speak to them clearly about their concerns and offer solutions.
Assumptions
- Youth-wing experience is a significant causal factor in leaders' success, not merely a common career path that correlates with success.
- Findings from 10 youth wings, based largely on interviews with activists and leaders, generalise to the broader populist radical right.
- Stated intentions of young leaders (not to moderate) will predict their actual behaviour in government.
- Normalisation and professionalisation increase electoral appeal, particularly among young voters.
- Youth disaffection from mainstream parties is caused by economic insecurity and unrepresentative youth wings, and addressing these would win young people back.
- The populist radical right's ideology poses a threat to liberal democracy.