Populist Political Parties Research Articles

Populists in the Shadow of Unanimity: Contestation of EU Foreign and Security Policy

The arrival of populist political parties to power in several member states and the increasing politicisation of EU foreign policy has made intra-European consensus more difficult to reach in the past decade. This article examines the impact of populist contestation on EU foreign policy negotiations in the Council, a policy area governed by unanimity. This decision-making mode makes the policy especially vulnerable to the impact of contestation and, at the same time, gives power to those willing to use their veto. Drawing on the idea of unpopulist politics, this study shows how Hungary and, to a lesser degree, Poland have contested the established formal and informal norms (such as consensus-building or reflex coordination) through discursive and behavioural non-compliance. The “domestication” of EU foreign policy has meant that, in general, populists show less willingness to compromise and resort to non-decisions to demonstrate the EU’s weakness. However, there are exceptions, and it is possible to see variations in populist strategies when faced with similar challenges, as exemplified by the EU’s response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. By testing the scope conditions under which unpolitics might be activated, we show that the same crisis situation did not lead to a uniform response amongst populist governments. This is because both the nature of the crisis and perceptions of risk/gain were understood differently (and actively constructed as such) by populists in power. This finding emphasises the social, relational, and multi-level nature of unpolitics as a phenomenon.

Engaging Populism? The Popularity of European Populist Political Parties on Facebook and Twitter, 2010–2020

ABSTRACT Scholars have argued that populists disproportionately benefit from social media, and there is evidence that they attract more engagement than other politicians and parties in several countries. We systematically evaluate the relationship between populism and online popularity using a novel dataset covering over four hundred parties active on Facebook and Twitter in thirty European countries between 2010 and 2020. We use Bayesian hierarchical models to assess the relationship between populism and three types of engagement on each platform. We find that populists received more engagement than other parties on Facebook, but there was no consistent relationship on Twitter. Among these parties, only right-wing populist parties had any widespread advantages. Our results highlight considerable heterogeneity across countries and over time, providing new insight into the scope and scale of populists’ online popularity. This includes evidence that left-wing and centrist parties attracted more engagement in a handful of countries. We evaluate several explanations for these results, finding that negative macroeconomic indicators and increased migration are positively correlated with populist engagement, while internet and social media adoption have mixed impacts that benefit right-wing populists.

Does Performance Matter? The Influence of Attitudes Towards Welfare State Performance on Voting for Rightwing and Leftwing Populist Parties

Abstract In recent decades, populist parties and leaders have obtained great political success. Since populism plays on voter dissatisfaction with the political elite, we might expect that dissatisfaction with the welfare state should also play a role. In this study, we suggest measures to assess welfare state performance (WSP), and we examine how assessment of WSP helps to explain support for the populist political parties – both rightwing and leftwing. Our findings are based on the sixth round of European Social Survey data that has a special module on democracy, which includes questions that enables us to measure WSP. This article shows that WSP is a significant predictor in explaining support for populist parties, but the dynamics differ between how WSP influences support for leftwing populist (LWP) and rightwing populist (RWP) parties.

Populism and the quest for political power: the pitfalls to populist electoral success in Canada

Recent electoral inroads by anti-establishment political parties in Europe and around the world have led to the resurgence of the debate on populism. Within the burgeoning theoretical and analytic interpretations of the surge of populism, competing arguments have been deployed. Economic dislocation and the demographic shift within liberal democratic societies have provided fertile ground for the rise of populism. However, the success of these populist political parties, particularly the radical right populist parties, in utilizing prevailing societal resentment is to a great extent conditional upon a perceived threat to national identity. While the vestiges of political distrust and social and economic indignation can be found in Canadian society, the absence of a historically ingrained strong sense of nationhood, consolidation of multiculturalism, the eclipse of class from national political discourse, and the implausibility of resorting to Anti-Americanism as a mobilizing tactic has made it difficult for both Canadian right and left-populist forces to replicate the success of their international counterparts at the national level.

Populism and Its Expression in Italy

The political practice of populism has long existed in Europe, in recent years, the concept of populism has received increasing attention and it has frequently appeared on the political stage in various European countries. Populism is especially popular and typical in Italy, while problems also emerge with different forms. Whats more, this ideology always appears as a discourse of two opposing groups. The paper explores the development of populism in Italy, its impact on Italy and Europe as a whole by using a case study of Italian populist political parties and adopting Cas Mudde's definition of populism. As a result, populism could be illustrated as a tool for regulating the European society when there is a democratic imbalance. In the end, we can find the pattern of populism, try to predict its future development and its effects in different spheres in Europe, and then gain some awareness of the predicament of European society.

Narratives of Mediterranean migrants in Italian cinema: The camera angle and close-up in Terraferma and Fuocoammare

Over the last two decades, Italian cinema has turned its gaze towards the Mediterranean Sea to dismantle the narratives constructed by populist political parties and mainstream European media, which have emphasized the rhetoric of border protection, security and legality through the systematic depersonalization of migrants. Film counter-narratives to this have been effectively developed, and cinema has responded to the materiality and fixity of migrants’ bodies by composing stories in which these migrants recover their sociopolitical agency. This article provides a close analysis of the characterization in Emanuele Crialese’s Terraferma (2011) and Gianfranco Rosi’s Fuocoammare (Fire at Sea) (2016) in relation to technical and stylistic forms of filmic representation. Particular attention is paid to the correlation between the aesthetic level of the films and the social dimension of the characters, which is primarily expressed through framing in which the migrant occupies the central position, establishing a dialectical relationship with the other characters and their social space.

Does a Lack of Trust Boost Populist Political Parties in Europe? Causal Evidence from Three Methodologies

Does a Lack of Trust Boost Populist Political Parties in Europe? Causal Evidence from Three Methodologies

Populism in Canada: Something old, something new

The electoral success of populist movements in recent years has encouraged parties and politicians to incorporate populist themes increasingly into their discourse. While Canada has not been immune to these trends, populism has enjoyed relatively little electoral success in modern Canadian politics. A new People’s Party fielded candidates in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections but failed to win any seats in Parliament. Some populist themes such as nativism or authoritarianism have not rewarded their proponents in Canadian elections. Another dimension, distrust of elites, politicians and the media, is more present in Canadian public opinion today, and was a part of past populist movements such as Social Credit or Reform. In this paper, we examine the structure and correlates of populist attitudes held by Canadians, utilizing data from the 2019 and 2021 Canadian Election Studies. In conclusion, we consider the potential for a populist political party or leader to enjoy electoral success in the Canada of today.

Online Harassment and Trolling of Political Journalists in Pakistan

ABSTRACT This study examines the online harassment faced by political journalists in Pakistan on Twitter, specifically focusing on the actions of users affiliated with various political parties. By selecting the 12 most active journalists on Twitter, we combined both content and textual analyses to examine comments posted on their tweets. Drawing upon the theoretical framework of the practice-based theoretical approach, the findings reveal that these journalists predominantly encountered negative comments encompassing personal abuses, culturally sensitive expressions, and attacks on their professional lives. Commenters associated with the populist political party, Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf, were more likely to engage in uncivil comments compared to those affiliated with traditional political parties. Interestingly, both male and female journalists received a comparable number of comments on their tweets; however, the nature of the comments differed significantly. Male journalists were primarily criticized for their perceived lack of professionalism, whereas female journalists were subjected to gender-targeted offensive comments. The study highlighted how socio-cultural conditions were exploited by political parties and netizens to suppress critical journalists. Overall, this research sheds light on the multifaceted dynamics of harassment faced by journalists in the digital age, emphasizing the need for effective measures to safeguard freedom of expression and counteract online abuse within the Pakistani media landscape.

Analisis Framing Caleg Selebritis di Media Online pada Pemilu 2024

Celebrities have taken part in Indonesian elections since 1971. They were employed in populist political party recruitment operations. They frequently serve as canvassers for political parties with an interest in reaching the minimal threshold. The artist is convinced that he will be able to pass being elected as a member of the legislature because of his popularity. This study examines how celebrity candidates for the 2024 election are framed in online media. The Entman framing analysis model is employed for the analysis. Republika.co.id, Kompas.id, and Tribunnews.com are the web publications used in this study. Based on Problem Identification, even though celebrity candidates do not have the ideal qualities and capabilities to become members of the legislature, there are still many celebrity candidates in every election. Causal Interpretation, from this phenomenon is that the process of regeneration and regeneration in all political parties is not going well, on the other hand political parties need a machine to gain votes to pass the threshold of sufficient votes. So that the Moral Judgment of this problem is that political parties are more focused on improving the performance of their members and celebrity candidates with good quality and capability can become the choice of political parties. The Treatment Recommendation that can be offered is to provide celebrity candidates with political education by political parties, bearing in mind that the functions, duties and position of the legislature are one of the strategic pillars of power for a country.

Unleashing the Beast: Exploring Incivility and Intolerance in Facebook Comments Under Populist and Non-populist Politicians’ Social Media Posts About Migration

Abstract Social networking sites allow politicians to reach followers directly and offer citizens platforms to express their opinions. However, online discussions often lack civility, leading to increased polarization. Although existing research has brought important insights into populist effects on political trust, attitudes, or electoral behavior, we know less about how populism’s use of divisive rhetoric and identity-based appeals contribute to the confrontational responses of social media users. To address this gap, we investigate the relationship between the use of populist communication in migration-related social media posts by populist and non-populist political actors and the use of uncivil and intolerant rhetoric by social media users. Focusing on the case of the Czech Republic between 2013 and 2020, we conducted a quantitative content analysis of Facebook posts about the contentious issue of migration created by political parties and comments under those posts published by social media users. Our results indicate that while different elements of populist communication bring mixed results to the responses in online discussions, the social media posts created by populist political parties are positively associated with increased online incivility and intolerance. These findings have significant implications for understanding the potential influence of populist messages on social media and its consequences for democratic societies, highlighting their relevance in addressing and mitigating crises beyond the migration crisis, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and other emergencies.

Sowing the seeds of skepticism? Electoral-integrity beliefs among political elites

Elections in many democracies have come under attack “from within”, with political elites challenging the integrity of the electoral process and calling its outcomes into question. Such allegations may delegitimize democratic outcomes and compromise citizens' confidence in elections. Yet aside from their rhetoric, little is known about political elites' electoral-integrity beliefs. This study breaks new ground by investigating how political elites perceive the integrity of elections, and which factors may account for differences in their electoral-integrity beliefs. Using innovative data from the 2021 candidate survey of the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES), the empirical analysis shows that political candidates exhibit mostly positive views about the integrity of the electoral procedures and the 2021 election, while being more skeptical about the fairness of the campaign period. Moreover, the findings show that negative campaign experiences, an affiliation with a populist political party, and electoral defeat are important drivers of candidates' skepticism about the integrity of elections. These findings provide novel insights on the nature, background, and diagnostic significance of political elites’ electoral-integrity beliefs in modern democracies.

Populists in the shadow of great power competition: Duterte, Sukarno, and Sihanouk in comparative perspective

This article takes the study of populism beyond political parties and individual leaders and foregrounds coalitions in the making and unmaking of populist projects. It compares Rodrigo Duterte’s presidency in the Philippines with figures of an older vintage in postcolonial Southeast Asia—the Cold War neutralists President Sukarno of Indonesia and Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia, neither of whom fit neatly within dominant frameworks of populism in International Relations (IR). Drawing on Rogers Brubaker’s conceptualization of populism as a “discursive and stylistic repertoire,” I argue that the projects of Duterte, Sukarno, and Sihanouk embody populism in general and are suggestive of a distinct type vis-à-vis right- or left-wing party and individual populists. Specifically, these are populists who presided over ideologically diverse coalitions in contexts of intrusive Great Power competition. This comparison advances the study of populism in IR in three ways. First, rather than populist political parties and leaders, this article focuses on populists crafting coalitions in contexts of weak party milieus. Second, it draws on a capacious conceptualization of populism (as repertoire) which pushes beyond exclusively “ideological,” “strategic,” and “discursive” conceptions and better accounts for the empirical diversity of this phenomenon outside Euro-American shores. Third, this article highlights a novel pathway by which international politics shapes the fates of populism. The three cases show how a strident discourse of anti-colonialism glued populists’ diverse coalitions at home, while populists’ external alignment choices and efforts to steer “independent” foreign policies exacerbated coalitional fault lines, straining, if not unraveling, their projects.

Civilizational Populism in Domestic and Foreign Policy: The Case of Turkey

This article investigates whether Turkish populism has undergone a ‘civilizational turn’ akin to what Brubaker, Haynes, Yilmaz, and Morieson have described occurring among populist parties in Europe and North America. The article applies Yilmaz and Morieson’s definition of ‘civilizational populism’ to Turkey under the rule of the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) in order to determine whether the party conforms to this definition. The article investigates how the AKP, an Islamist and populist political party lead by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has increasingly incorporated what we term ‘civilizational populism’ into its discourse. The article shows the impact of civilizational populism on Turkey’s domestic and foreign policy under the AKP rule. The article finds that the AKP has increasingly, and especially since the 2013 Gezi Park protests and the mysterious coup attempt in 2016, construed opposition between the Turkish ‘self’ and the ‘other’ not in primarily nationalist terms, but in religious and civilizational terms, and as a conflict between the Ottoman-Islamic ‘self’ and ‘Western’ other. Furthermore, the article finds that the AKP’s domestic and foreign policies reflect its civilizational populist division of Turkish society insofar as the party is attempting to raise a ‘pious generation’ that supports its Islamizing of Turkey society, and its nostalgic neo-Ottomanist power projections in the Middle East. Finally, the paper discusses how the AKP’s civilizational populism has become a transnational populist phenomenon due to the party’s ability to produce successful television shows that reflect its anti-Western worldview and justify its neo-Ottoman imperialism in the Middle East.

Right-wing populist education policy in a social democratic welfare state context

ABSTRACT The article analyses the education ideologies and policies of two Danish right-wing populist political parties, the Danish People’s Party and the New Right Party. The two parties differ in their political trajectories and profiles, but both represent a right-wing populism emphasizing the opposition between the people on the one hand and the elite and its alliance with foreigners on the other. In a national context with a strong welfare state tradition, right-wing populism has gained considerable influence on other political parties including the Social Democrats. In mapping the education policy of the two parties, the article draws on partisan political manifesto texts prepared for the 2019 general election, on studies of voter attitudes in that election and on position taking of parties in parliamentary work. It is concluded that the education policies of the two parties focus mainly on the content of education, emphasizing national and Christian values and presenting foreigners and immigrants, especially from predominantly Muslim countries, as threats. Education does not feature strongly in the work of these parties, but their views still have an impact. The example of the Danish People’s Party shows this; it has secured parliamentary majority for Liberal-Conservative governments and influenced their education policies.

The Impact of Populism on Scandinavian Labour Law: The Cases of Norway and Sweden

Modern populism has developed in Scandinavia since at least the 1970s, first in Norway and Denmark but more recently also in Sweden. Populist political parties have been well-established in Scandinavian Parliaments for many years. However, from a labour law perspective, the populist impact, if any, has been limited and populist discourse has primarily focused on issues such as migration and the European Union (EU), and to some extent ‘welfare tourism’. This article examines the development of populist movements in Norway and Sweden and analyses the possible impact of populist policies on national labour law. The conclusion is that Nordic industrial relations and labour market regulations, based on strong and representative trade unions and well-organized and responsible employer federations, act as a robust counterweight to populist policies on the labour market. Section 2 of the article consists of a discussion of how we understand the development of modern populism in a Norwegian and Swedish perspective. Section 3 explores the extent to which populist political ideas have directly impacted or indirectly influenced labour market regulations in the two countries. In concluding, section 4 monitors the potency of strong and well-established industrial relations as a countervailing force to populist political movements. Populist Policies, Labour Market Regulation, Scandinavia, Norway, Sweden, Resilience to Populism

When migrants become ‘the people’: unpacking homeland populism

ABSTRACT The emerging debate on transnational populism has thus far mainly focused on cases, which have remained relatively inconsequential due to the weak institutionalisation of the political transnationalism arena. By bringing in a better-structured arena of migrant transnationalism, this paper introduces populist political parties mobilising transnational migrants to the debate and explores the resulting phenomenon of homeland populism. The paper investigates three populist parties that operate transnationally – Ecuadorian APAIS in Spain, Turkish AKP in Germany and Estonian EKRE in Finland. The analysis demonstrates that the phenomenon of homeland populism shares several distinct features despite the ideological, geographic, cultural and migratory differences between the three cases. The cases also sport differences: while the construction of ‘the people’ depends on migratory context, the construction of ‘the antagonist’ is more related to the ideational variations of populism. The study also suggests that the key target group of homeland populism are economic migrants.

Decisions taken by States with authoritarian governments: economic basis and perspectives on SDG 16

This article initially analyses the theoretical possibility that the terms «rule of law» and «human rights» in the Treaty on European Union (TEU) can be analysed from the perspective of the Economic Analysis of Law (EAL). It then focuses on the economic principles underlying decision-making to appreciate, under that perspective, the choices made by States, both at the national and international level (which could also include the commitment to the SDGs). From there, the study is oriented more towards SDG 16 proposing, summarily, to denominate with the terms «horizontal» and «vertical» two different basic perceptions on its three main areas (peace, justice, and strong institutions) and tentatively uncovering their possible impacts on the rule of law and the rights and freedoms of specific groups (e.g., LGBTQIA+ community, immigrants, refugees, etc.). It is suggested that, while the «horizontal perception» presents a socially inclusive role, the «vertical perception» tends to be more exclusionary. Seeking congruence with the above, it is also suggested that a biased perception of SDG 16 (associated with the «vertical» vision) could help authoritarian States in the exaltation of their nationalism, without forgetting that international public order, often wielded as an expression of national sovereignty, can serve as a «defensive shield» against alleged «attempts to alter» the fundamental values of the State and of the Christian roots of their societies. Simultaneously, observation of everyday political life seems to suggest that public order can be altered to the liking of populist political parties. The result seems to reveal a growing dichotomy between values (European vs. national), public orders (European, albeit incipient vs. international and domestic), and types of democracy (liberal vs. illiberal). As incidental and illustrative examples, the authoritarian drifts in Hungary and Poland are included in the study.

The Illiberal Turn in Politics and Ideology through the Commodified Social Policy of the ‘Family 500+’ Programme

The specificity of political and economic changes in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) over the past decade requires detailed theoretical analysis and in-depth empirical research. In particular, the so-called illiberal turn in politics and the accompanying economic reforms are of interest to social scientists. This article attempts to explain this turn in the context of social policy changes, based on the example of the Family 500+ programme in Poland during the rule of the populist political party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (Law and Justice, or PiS). To demonstrate the instrumental role of this programme in the implementation of the illiberal strategy, the concept of the commodification of social benefits is used to shed new light on the specificity of Polish ‘pseudo-social welfare’. Hence, the main premise of this article is the thesis that the Family 500+ programme not only fails to constitute the foundation of the Polish welfare state, but, through the commodification of social relations and cuts within the de-commodified social services, it reinforces neoliberal economic forces and the importance of the state.

Introduction

Previous articleNext article FreeIntroductionStephen Brain, Mark D. Hersey, and Sarah Stanford-McIntyreStephen Brain Search for more articles by this author , Mark D. Hersey Search for more articles by this author , and Sarah Stanford-McIntyre Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreIn recent years, the world has seemed to careen from one crisis to another, with little time to recover from the last before the next begins. Electoral conflicts, public health emergencies, economic upheavals, and geopolitical cataclysms have followed each other or overlapped with one another, sometimes with no reprieve. Few of us have much influence on the trajectory of these histories-in-the-making, but one way to cope with a potential sense of overwhelm is through greater understanding. The essays in this issue work to that end by providing insight into many of the challenges facing us today, including climate change, political tumult, commodity shocks, and epidemics.The first feature in this issue is a set of reflections centered on the concept of political realignment and shifting public mores, analyzing the rise of right-wing populist movements around the world and their environmental policies. Interested in the consequences of this important and widespread political phenomenon, we reached out to six environmental historians who study countries with strong right-wing populist political parties and asked them to discuss the place of environmentalism (if any) in the ascent of those parties to prominence. Their responses are thought-provoking and nuanced—sometimes charged with emotion, but also grounded in historical perspective and historiographical context.Each of the monographic articles addresses, in one form or another, the concept of disorienting environmental change and human reactions to those changes. Kelly Enright’s essay about the disappearance of Franklinia alatamaha offers a fresh look at the concept of extinction, not only by turning our attention away from animals and toward plants but by illustrating the lengths that naturalists would go to in search of a vanished member of the native biota that continued to exist in the wild only in their imaginations. Samuël Coghe’s essay visits sub-Saharan Africa and describes the conclusion of a long and draining livestock epidemic and the events that ensued as scientists and animal breeders worked to limit the effect of Trypanosomiasis in the development of a new cattle frontier. Sky Michael Johnston’s contribution recounts the reaction of religious leaders and the lay public to the Little Ice Age, and shows how faith and perceptions of climate change shaped one another. Emily Brownell takes up the theme of economic disruption and explores how government officials and ordinary people responded to the oil crisis in Tanzania the late 1970s by developing new commodity flows and new partnerships. Finally, Isacar Bolaños takes up the theme of imperial competition and decline by surveying the attempts of French hydrological engineers to leverage their expertise into imperial influence. Together, these essays exploring histories of Africa, North America, Europe, and the Middle East show humans reckoning with, causing, or seeking to leverage environmental transformations.Looking beyond the monographic articles, we are pleased to report that the journal’s subsections are better positioned than they have been in some time. Although the journal will go to press without a Gallery essay for the second time since the start of the pandemic, the book review section has returned to its former strength. The editors of that subsection are excited by the range and breadth of books reviewed in this issue, which collectively highlight the capacious scope and bright future of the discipline. That the book review section is once again on firm footing is due in no small part to the tireless work of Margaret Cook, who will be stepping down as coeditor, as of this issue. While her hard work, humor, and dedication will be missed, we are excited to welcome Matthew Himel as the coeditor of the book reviews. Matthew has already been involved with the journal as its social media coordinator and will bring this outreach experience to the role.The publication of this issue also marks the conclusion of our first year with the University of Chicago Press. We’d like to express our gratitude to the UCP team for their enthusiastic support during the transition, as well as for their efforts to make the journal more visually appealing and intellectually stimulating. We are very encouraged about the future of the partnership, and we look forward to many years of productive cooperation. Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Volume 27, Number 4October 2022 Published for the American Society for Environmental History and the Forest History Society Views: 187Total views on this site Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/721439 Views: 187Total views on this site HistoryPublished online October 06, 2022 © 2022 Forest History Society and American Society for Environmental History. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.