In the context of structure formation in a hierarchical Universe, the relevance of mergers to radio-loud active galaxies is still under debate. I employ two different observational approaches to investigate the merger history of active galaxies, using several different samples of radio-loud AGN. I will first show results from the investigation of a complete sample of flat-spectrum radio-AGN and their role in a merger-driven evolution of galaxies. In the second part of my talk I will focus on the investigation of the close environment of radio-loud active galaxies, using data from the new VISTA-VIDEO near-infrared survey. Strong evidence is found supporting a close connection between merger events and radio-loud AGN.