The leaders of the most successful populist radical right parties in western Europe have one thing in common that is often overlooked. Italy’s Matteo Salvini, Jordan Bardella from France, Jimmie Åkesson from the Sweden Democrats, and Tom Van Grieken from Belgium’s Vlaams Belang all led the youth wing of the parties they now run. These movements shaped the politicians they are today, and they are now shaping Europe’s political future.

As Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, another former radical right youth-wing leader, put it: “Even more than my growth as a politician, I owe my growth as a person and as an Italian to my youth-wing activism. There is no more formative training ground than this.” And yet, until recently, we knew little about these incubation chambers of populist radical right parties.

In researching our new book, Youth Wings of the Populist Radical Right, we looked at 10 such organisations from across Europe. From the youth wing of Austria’s Freedom party to that of France’s National Rally, we found they help to recruit, train and promote the radical right’s grassroots members, their representatives and leaders of the future. They also perform important functions for their parties in the present, encouraging young people to vote for them, providing a key source of labour during election campaigns, running party branches and influencing policy.

In particular, we found that youth-wing leaders and their rank and file members are helping to achieve three key goals for the radical right as their........

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