Geert Wilders’ win shows we are in a new phase for the far right in western Europe | Cas Mudde

As mainstream politics has shifted to the right, once-fringe parties are gaining support - and moving closer to government

The turning point in Geert Wilders' path to Dutch electoral triumph (if not power) is now thought to have been the decision by the leader of the conservative VVD party to open the door to Wilders' party as a coalition partner. It was at this moment that many voters calculated that they might as well vote for Wilders as for the VVD.

More and more rightwing leaders across western Europe are making the same decision to accommodate the far right in coalition as a way of keeping their own parties in power. The fact that this tactic completely backfired for the VVD's Dilan Yeilgoz, (her party ended up in third place) contains an important lesson that extends beyond the Netherlands.

Cas Mudde is the Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF professor in the school of public and international affairs at the University of Georgia

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