The Far Right and Europe’s New Security Order: Ukraine, Rearmament, and the Politics of Defence

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has accelerated the transformation of European security architecture. Through the White Paper for European Defence, Readiness 2030, and instruments for defence investment and joint procurement, the EU is acquiring a role in a field dominated by member states and NATO. At the same time, far-right parties have expanded their political influence across Europe. What role they play in shaping new European security architecture? Looking ahead, can far-right-led member states achieve and sustain a continental security architecture based on cooperation ?
This panel moves beyond treating the far right as either uniformly militarist or simply pro-Russian. It examines how far-right parties combine competing commitments: national sovereignty, military strength, welfare protection, Euroscepticism, Atlanticism, and divergent attitudes toward Russia and Ukraine. Some endorse higher defence expenditure while resisting EU-level coordination; others support “strategic autonomy” but oppose assistance to Kyiv; still others have moderated positions as they enter government; some would also like to keep good relations with the USA, while others would prefer to seek partnerships elsewhere, moving beyond NATO. Thus, it will focus on the diversities within the European far-right in terms of their way of perceiving new European security architecture and strategic autonomy of the EU.
The panel invites comparative and single-case papers addressing far-right party discourse, parliamentary behaviour, electoral competition, coalition participation, and policy change since 2022. It asks how ideology, geopolitical location, public opinion, governing status, and relations with mainstream conservatives shape far-right responses to European rearmament and their perceptions about the transformation of European Security and Defence Policy. It also considers whether these parties obstruct integration, redirect it toward an intergovernmental “Europe of nations,” or normalize security agendas that strengthen their legitimacy. In addition, it discusses how anti-war and peace discourse of the far-right particularly with regards to Ukraine have shaped their political agenda.
Thus, by connecting scholarship on the far right, European integration, and security politics, the panel will evaluate whether the EU defence framework creates a transnational cleavage within the far right and what its influence means for support to Ukraine particularly in military terms, democratic oversight, and Europe’s capacity for collective action.