📚 Book

Fred Paxton. 2023. Restrained Radicals: Populist Radical Right Parties in Local Government (Cambridge University Press)

Endorsements

‘Truly groundbreaking!’
Cas Mudde, School of Public and International Affairs, University of Georgia

‘Fred Paxton makes an important contribution to the study of so far uncharted terrain.’
Hanspeter Kriesi, Department of Political and Social Sciences, European University Institute, Florence

‘Paxton has achieved the considerable feat of producing a sophisticated study on an original topic […] His insightful analysis should be essential reading for those interested in understanding how populists adapt to power.’
Duncan McDonnell, Professor and ARC Future Fellow, Centre for Governance and Public Policy, Griffith University

‘Fred Paxton’s nuanced analyses not only show that policy-making is a performative activity for the populist radical right, but also demonstrate that local politics is often a testing-ground for national parties to try out strategies and alliances.’
Sarah de Lange, Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam

Reviews

David Art. (2024). The Radical Right Goes Global (and Local). Perspectives on Politics. 22(4): 1285-1290. doi:10.1017/S1537592724001609

Léonie de Jonge. (2024). Review of “Restrained Radicals: Populist Radical Right Parties in Local Government”. Party Politics. https://doi.org/10.1177/13540688241263742

Michael Andrea Strebel (2024). Commissioned Book Review: Fred Paxton, Restrained Radicals: Populist Radical Right Parties in Local Government. Political Studies Review. 22(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/14789299241249372

📄 Journal Articles

• Endre Borbáth and Fred Paxton. 2025. ‘Movement parties in Europe: a comparative assessment‘. Acta Politica, 60:1, 1-16.
• Fred Paxton. 2025. ‘Right up their street? News media framing of the protest activities of far-right movement parties’. Acta Politica, 60:1, 76-97
• Timothy Peace and Fred Paxton. 2024 . ‘Populist pragmatism: the nationalisation of local government strategies by the Rassemblement National’. Acta Politica, 59, 264–288
• Sophia Hunger and Fred Paxton. 2022. ‘What’s in a Buzzword? A Systematic Review of the State of Populism Research in Political Science’. Political Science Research and Methods, 10:3, 617-633.
• Fred Paxton. 2022. ‘With a Little Help from Their Friends: The Consequences of Populists in National Government for Policymaking in Local Government’. Government & Opposition, 57:4, 630-655.
• Fred Paxton. 2021. ‘Varieties of Inclusionary and Exclusionary Populism in the Italian Regional Elections 2018-20’. Contemporary Italian Politics, 13:4, 402-422.
• Fred Paxton and Timothy Peace. 2021. ‘Window Dressing? The Mainstreaming Strategy of the Rassemblement National in Power at the Local Level of Government’. Government & Opposition, 56:3, 545-562.
• Andrea Pettrachin and Fred Paxton. 2021. ‘How do populists make decisions? The Five Star Movement and the Lega in local government during the ‘refugee crisis’. Contemporary Italian Politics, 14:1, 24-48.
• Fred Paxton. 2020. ‘Towards a Populist Local Democracy? The Consequences of Populist Radical Right Local Government Leadership in Western Europe’. Representation, 56:3, 411-430.

Find the rest of my published research including book chapters and reviews here: Google Scholar | ResearchGate

✍️ Works in progress

Christopher Claassen and Fred Paxton. ‘Young, Male, and Authoritarian?’ (Under review).

Francesco Colombo and Fred Paxton. ‘The Signalling Power of Nostalgia: How Nostalgic Communication Shapes Issue Perception and Social Representation’ (In progress).

Francesco Colombo and Fred Paxton. ‘Nostalgia in Political Rhetoric: A Tool for Conservatives, Not the Disaffected’ (In progress).

Fred Paxton, Lorenzo Mosca, Dan Mercea, and Bálint Miloka. ‘Movement parties and the quality of democracy in Romania and Hungary’ (In progress).

Lorenzo Mosca and Fred Paxton. ‘Partisan misinformation in Italian newspapers’ (In progress).

Fred Paxton, Felipe G. Santos and Dan Mercea.  ‘The multi-dimensional character and appeal of anti-establishment politics: an experimental approach.’ (In progress).

Fred Paxton. ‘Proximity to the people: varieties of localism from the populist radical left and right.’ (In progress).