A new typology of parties of the populist radical right: Fidesz’s radicalized conservatism and gender inequality in comparison to the Rassemblement National

This article argues for a bifurcation between parties of the populist radical right (PRR) that are genuinely ideologically conservative, especially in relation to gender and sexual politics, and those that are not. The article therefore proposes a new PRR party subtype – radicalized conservatism – which combines core PRR ideologies with religiously sourced conservatism. Four dimensions for identifying conservatism within PRR parties are proposed: (1) party relations to Christian democracy; (2) Church–party relations; (3) gender and sexual politics; and (4) knowledge politics. Next, these dimensions are applied in a comparison between France’s Rassemblement National and Hungary’s Fidesz parties. Fidesz is found to be a radicalized conservative party, in contrast to the Rassemblement National, which is not. While the two party subtypes overlap in several important ways, they hold different implications for contagion effects on gender and sexual (in)equality in Europe.