The Republican Party and European Far-Right Parties
By Guillem Colom
Throughout the 2000s, political scholars evaluated the linkages between the United States’ Republican Party and European far-right parties regarding their ideological similarities. However, little has been examined on how the Republican Party and European far-right parties directly cooperate through political gatherings that enable them to establish common political agendas. To investigate far-right cooperation over time, I measured the attendance of Republican and European far-right speakers at two prominent conservative gatherings: the Conservative Political Action Conference (2013 to 2023) and the National Conservatism Conference (2016 to 2023). I find that the number of European far-right speakers increased over time and that the parties Fidesz from Hungary, Brothers of Italy and Lega from Italy, and the Conservative Party and United Kingdom Independence Party from the United Kingdom had the largest European far-right representation. These findings indicate a strengthening far-right alliance involving coordination efforts that motivate far-right parties across borders to consolidate power by winning elections and implementing policies that undermine democratic institutions.