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The article presents information on the popularity of extreme right-wing political parties across Eastern and Western Europe. Several theories contrasting the relative and absolute deprivation concepts are discussed. A structural account is offered about the emergence of extreme right-wing parties in two countries including Romania and France.

The analysis of political competition as one-dimensional (left-versus-right) is widespread. This single dimension is a useful shortcut for a number of positions on a variety of issues and policies. Nonetheless, political conflict is often multi-dimensional. Using a single dimension for describing political competition in such circumstances is inappropriate. I present a simple model with two dimensions and three actors (constituencies) with preferences over policies associated with each of the two dimensions. I use this model to analyze the most recent presidential elections in three European countries: France, Romania, and Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]