Nationalism, Scepticism, and the European Project

In recent years, almost every country in the European Union has been confronted with the spread of anti- EU right wing nationalist parties. However, these parties differ in how they approach their opposition to the EU. Some of the parties seek to leave the EU while others only oppose specific policies. The question becomes why are some parties are more Eurosceptic than others? Existing scholarly research points to several factors that can help explain the different degrees of Euroscepticism in different national parties. These factors are political control, political orientation, political platform, political integration, historical nationalism, and monetary deficit. This thesis examines each of these factors for every right wing nationalist Eurosceptic party and compares them to see which factors most accurately predict a party’s brand and degree of Euroscepticism