Where to for the Radical Right in the European Parliament? The rise and fall of transnational political cooperation

Amidst all the academic and media discussion in recent years of the causes and consequences of the rise in support for Radical Right parties (RRPs) in Europe, a related, but equally significant development, has generated less debate; namely the rise and fall in the European Parliament in 2007 of the trans-national Radical Right political group, Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty (ITS). Drawing on interviews with and a qualitative survey of former ITS members, as well as EP archival evidence, the paper begins by discussing why the notion of trans-national cooperation for Radical-Right political parties has proved difficult, and thus far has been doomed to failure, before analyzing the internal and external dynamics behind the rise and fall of the ITS group. Finally, the paper focuses on current collaboration among Radical Right parties post the June 2009 European elections and on the chances of a new trans-national far-right group emerging in the current parliament.