Abstract
What effect does the recent rise of populist parties harnessing an anti-system rhetoric have on political trust? Will citizens become disenchanted with and lose trust in the political system, or could populist party success even stimulate a growth of political trust? Arguing that populist parties may well be conceived as a corrective force giving voice to and addressing citizen concerns about the established political system, this contribution hypothesizes that populist party success will increase political trust among the general public, especially in countries lacking democratic quality, with weak corruption control, and meagre government performance. Empirically, it combines ParlGov data with survey data from the European Social Survey (2002–2016) as well as aggregate data from the Varieties-of-Democracy project and the World Development Indicators to investigate how political trust has changed in relation to the growing success of populist parties and how democratic quality, corruption control, and government performance have moderated this relationship in 23 European democracies. Its main findings indicate that, at least in the short run, political trust increases rather than decreases following populist party success and that this increase in trust is most pronounced in political systems that lack democratic quality, struggle with corruption, and deliver only meager government performance.
Highlights
Recent years have seen a new wave of populism across Europe
Levels of political trust appear to even increase after populist parties have gained electoral votes. The analysis finds this increase in political trust to be most pronounced in political systems that lack in democratic quality, struggle with corruption, and deliver only meager government performance, indicating that populist parties may be seen as more of a corrective force in these countries
It argued that populist parties may be perceived as a corrective force giving voice to and tackling concerns about the political system that had long been prevalent among citizens
Summary
Recent years have seen a new wave of populism across Europe. Both right-wing and left-wing populist parties have entered parliaments from Spain to Slovakia, and in some countries have even won ruling majorities. The only exception is a recent contribution by Haugsgjerd (2019), who demonstrates that supporters of the Norwegian radical-right populist Fremskrittspartiet have expressed increasing satisfaction with democracy after the party had gained executive power in 2013 Adding to both of these literatures, this article wants to contribute to our understanding of what the new realities of populism mean for Europe’s democracies by examining how the electoral success of populist parties affects political trust in the general public and whether and how this effect varies across countries depending on democratic quality, corruption control, and government performance. The analysis finds this increase in political trust to be most pronounced in political systems that lack in democratic quality, struggle with corruption, and deliver only meager government performance, indicating that populist parties may be seen as more of a corrective force in these countries
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
