Xenophobia, prejudice, and right-wing populism in East-Central Europe

Right-wing populist parties have been particularly successful in East-Central Europe in the second decade of the 21st century. We explain this phenomenon using a demand—supply framework. We review studies about characteristics of East-Central European nationalism and intergroup tensions with minorities on the psychological demand side and the anti-immigrant political discourse on the political supply side. We conclude that the success of right-wing populism can be explained by a high, but unstable national identity in the region's countries based on the experiences of the fragile national sovereignty, the deeply embedded and socially acceptable (i.e. normative) intergroup hostilities with minorities (especially toward the Roma minority), and the effective use of immigrant threat in this context.