Populism in the Netherlands after Fortuyn: Rita Verdonk and Geert Wilders Compared

Abstract

In the Netherlands, the rise of new parties such as the Lijst Pim Fortuyn (List Pim Fortuyn), the Partij voor de Vrijheid, led by Geert Wilders and the movement Trots op Nederland (Pride of the Netherlands), led by Rita Verdonk, have attracted much attention. In an attempt to interpret and explain the (temporary) advance of these parties, both commentators and political scientists have often used the notion of populism. In most commentaries, however, it remains unclear what exactly the term means and whether it has any explanatory value. The aim of this article is to investigate whether Rita Verdonk and Geert Wilders and their movements may actually be labelled as populist. By discerning the presence of the features of an ideal-typical populism in discourse and performance of both politicians their ‘degree of populism’ is measured. The differences in degree of populism also helps to explain why Geert Wilders and his party proved (thus far) more successful and durable.