The Radical Right in Romania: Political Party Evolution and the Distancing of Romania from Europe.

Parties of the radical right have gained electoral support in European Union countries in recent years. Explanations of this support tend to focus on these parties' ability to tap into citizen attitudes and fears related to globalization issues: immigration, global competition, and loss of cultural identity. In many cases, the EU itself becomes a symbol of these globalizing tendencies which the radical right uses to delineate political space between themselves and other pro-European parties. Does this apply to the radical right political parties of Romania? The paper evaluates this question by tracking the evolution of radical right parties in Romania (PRM and the New Generation Party) in terms of each party's electoral base supporters. It finds that the PRM is in a much weaker position based on its trajectory concerning EU integration than the New Generation Party which can (and has) distanced itself form support of Romania's EU accession. Thus, the New Generation Party poses the greater challenge to pro-European parties and its future electoral success will depend on its ability to mobilize Romanian voters dissatisfied with the European Union. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]