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Show 150 CHAPTER IV CONCLUSIONS Niche parties are a growing presence across Europe. More than simply being one party among many, niche parties are challenging traditional parties and contributing to changing party systems. In countries like the Netherlands and Denmark, the minority containment/cultural protection (MCCP) niche parties have surpassed mainstream parties that typically came in second or third in elections. This is not a one-time occurrence either, but a noticeable trend. Moreover the challenges and changes are not limited to national legislative elections, but impact all types and levels of elections. Environmental niche parties, for example, now hold the presidencies in Latvia and Austria, although the electoral outcome has been challenged in the case of Austria. The French National Front swept the first round of the 2015 regional elections, and came out on top, beating all mainstream parties, in the 2014 European Parliament elections. Overall, niche parties, some of whom have been competing for over thirty years now, are becoming a fixture in advanced democracies, and while in some cases they start and remain relatively small parties, their impact can be immense. In an attempt to better understand the varied electoral fortunes of niche parties in Europe, this project offered two contributions - improving the strategic explanations by adding in the strategic decisions facing niche parties in addition to those facing |
