Rise Of Right-wing Populist Parties Research Articles

Influencing People’s Populist Attitudes With Rhetoric and Emotions: An Online Experiment in the United States

Interest in populist voters has risen with the election of Donald Trump in the United States, the rise of right-wing populist parties in Europe, and the longevity of populist leaders in countries like Italy, Hungary, Turkey, and Venezuela. Yet, little attention has been given to what mechanisms may affect populist attitudes, leaving us without recommendations for media or politicians on how to mitigate populism’s known negative effects. This study investigates one such mechanism—political rhetoric working through emotional states—to determine whether grievances centered on subjective perceptions of injustice and inequities in the system operate through negative emotions to increase populist attitudes, as is often assumed in the literature, and whether an antidote to those perceptions may be found in a sense of solidarity and mutual support. For our analysis, we conducted a nationally representative online survey experiment of 2,006 respondents in the United States in November 2018. Broadly, we find evidence that negative emotional states increase populist attitudes, but positive emotions do not have an impact. Likewise, political rhetoric reinforcing a sense of unfair advantage for some people further increases populist attitudes. Importantly, we find that reducing these negative emotions by emphasizing solidarity can reduce populist attitudes. These findings not only deepen our understanding of the triggers of populism, but also take the first step in building a tested toolbox of strategies to minimize its negative effects.

Who speaks for manual workers? Unequal congruence in the 2017 German Federal Election

The rise of right-wing populist parties in Western democracies has led to a renewed interest in theories concerning class-based voting. It is argued that traditional workers’ parties are increasingly being challenged over the working-class vote by the populist radical right because they are perceived as being too culturally liberal for their own electorate. However, while it is established that the views of traditional parties are often incongruent with those of workers, it is not yet clear whether right-wing populist parties fare any better in this regard. Using many-to-many congruence, this article compares the preferences of different social classes and MPs in the 2017 German Federal Election. Three notable findings emerge. First, opinion gaps vary greatly across issues, and occupational groups do not hold fundamentally different views. Second, there are nonetheless significant congruence gaps at the expense of workers. Third, neither left-wing parties’ MPs nor the right-wing populist AfD MPs provide a good fit for workers’ opinions.

An Exploration of the Reasons Why Right-Wing Populist Parties in Europe are Anti-Immigration: The Case of Italy

Populism has become a prevailing political phenomenon in Europe, as evidenced by the repeated electoral victories of right-wing populist parties, which have transitioned from the political periphery to the centre stage. These parties frequently espouse anti-immigration rhetoric, which poses significant obstacles to European integration and globalization while simultaneously fueling racism and xenophobia. Such sentiments may foster political polarization within Europe and destabilize the global political economy. Despite Italy's former status as a leading destination for migrants in Europe, it has recently implemented increasingly restrictive immigration policies and experienced notable electoral gains for right-wing populist parties. The xenophobic tenets of right-wing populism account for these developments, making it crucial to investigate the reasons for their anti-immigrant stance. Accordingly, this study will examine the interplay between the tightening of Italy's immigration policy and the rise of right-wing populist parties, specifically investigating the underlying reasons for the anti-immigration stance of such parties by analyzing the cultural dilemma and economic crisis. By scrutinizing the origins of right-wing populist anti-immigration claims, this study seeks to uncover the driving factors behind the heightened stringency of immigration policies in countries like Italy in the wake of the rightward shift in European politics.

The Cultural Dimension of the Globalization Divide. Do Lifestyle Signals affect Cosmopolitans’ Willingness to interact?

Abstract In the context of the rise of right-wing populist parties in the past decades, many researchers have addressed the question of increasing social polarization and threats to social cohesion. In this article, we contribute to this discussion by looking at the cultural side of the globalization divide from the perspective of cleavage theory. More precisely, we ask if respondents interpret lifestyle characteristics as signals for the socio-political position of others and whether these attributions influence the willingness to interact socially. Based on data from a factorial survey experiment, we show that cosmopolitans categorize other persons based on different lifestyle characteristics and are more likely to interact with those who have a similar cosmopolitan lifestyle.

How Right-Wing Populists Instrumentalize News Media: Deliberate Provocations, Scandalizing Media Coverage, and Public Awareness for the Alternative for Germany (Afd)

The rise of right-wing populist parties in Western democracies is often attributed to populists’ ability to instrumentalize news media by making deliberate provocations (e.g., verbal attacks on migrants or politicians from other parties) that generate media coverage and public awareness. To explain the success of populists’ deliberate provocations, we drew from research on populism and scandal theory to develop a theoretical framework that we tested in two studies examining the rise of German right-wing populist party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) between January 2015 and December 2018. In Study 1, an input–output analysis of 17 deliberate provocations by AfD politicians in German news media revealed much more coverage about their attacks on migrants than about their attacks on political elites, although all were covered in predominantly scandalizing ways. Next, Study 2, involving media database research and an analysis of Google Trends data, showed that the provocations had increased overall media coverage about the AfD and influenced public awareness of the party

Understanding public concern about climate change in Europe, 2008–2017: the influence of economic factors and right-wing populism

ABSTRACT European survey data shows strong temporal fluctuations in climate change concern within European countries and large differences in concern between these countries. However, there is as yet no comprehensive understanding of what drives these longitudinal and cross-sectional patterns. To fill this knowledge gap, this study analyzes data of over 155,000 survey respondents from 28 European countries over the period 2008–2017. This study is the first to apply within-between random effects models to simultaneously analyze longitudinal and cross-sectional determinants of climate change concern, and examine if and how the influence of these determinants has changed over time. Substantively, it researches the nexus between climate change and two other crises that have captured the imagination of European publics over the studied period: the liberal democracy crisis and the economic crisis. The former is characterized by the rise of right-wing populist parties in Europe. Right-wing populism is often at odds with climate change policies, and its rise in popularity could have undermined public concern about climate change. We find only a weak negative longitudinal relationship between such concern and the popularity of right-wing populist parties, and no significant cross-sectional relationship. We find that economic performance is strongly positively associated with concern, with GDP per capita being most important for explaining cross-country differences in concern, and deviations in unemployment being most important for explaining longitudinal within-country change. However, this negative longitudinal relationship with unemployment weakens considerably over time, illustrating the importance of including dynamic effects in modeling efforts to generate more reliable results. Key policy insights The percentage of European respondents mentioning climate change as one of the most serious world problems declined from 65% in 2008 to 43% in 2017. This study does not find a strong direct relationship between the rise of climate skeptic right-wing populist parties and public concern about climate change. Economic factors are important predictors of climate change concern, with GDP per capita being the dominant driver of between-country differences, and unemployment the dominant within-country predictor. The marginal impact of unemployment was much stronger during, rather than after, the economic crisis.

Economic Crisis, Poor Governance and the Rise of Populism: The Case of Greece

Whereas across Western Europe, the salience of an emerging cultural cleavage has triggered the rise of right-wing populist parties that focus on immigration, in Greece the salience of the materialist cleavage exacerbated by the country’s severe and protracted economic crisis gave rise to populist forces of both the right and the left.

Dualization and Electoral Realignment

AbstractThe growing research on post-industrial labor market inequality bears a strong—yet widely misunderstood—relevance for the literature on electoral realignment. In this contribution, I contend that the assumption of “labor market outsiders” being equal to “globalization/modernization losers” is largely mistaken. Rather, atypical work and unemployment is most widespread among service workers, whose primary electoral choice is to abstain from voting. This implies that the ongoing reconfiguration of European party systems—through the rise of right-wing populist parties—is driven by skilled and routine workers in the manufacturing sector (the traditional “insiders”). Hence, the rise of right-wing populist parties reflects a political mobilization of the formerly well-protected industrial working class, rather than of labor market outsiders.

Migration: a step too far for the contemporary global order?

ABSTRACT Migration is arguably the single most salient issue in in Western democracies today. Anti-immigrant attitudes have fueled the rise of right-wing populist parties, have proved decisive in swaying a slim margin of the British public to support Brexit and have catalyzed delicate democracies down authoritarian tracks. We contend that because of predominant identity and security concerns, the free movement of people has never become a key element of the contemporary global order despite its qualifying, liberal credentials. Even in the European Union (EU), the integration of migration policy has remained fragmented and differentiated. These omissions are taking their toll as they generate friction between domestic and supranational goals, and as global problems – like the recent refugee crisis – lack ‘global’ or unified solutions. Migration has turned from an orphan of the global order to one of its primary challengers.

Right-wing populism in Europe & USA

AbstractIn recent years and months, new information about the rise of right-wing populist parties (RWPs) in Europe and the USA has dominated the news and caused an election scare among mainstream institutions and politicians. The unpredictable successes of populists (e.g. Donald Trump in the USA in 2016) have by now transformed anxieties into legitimate apprehension and fear. This Special Issue addresses the recent sudden upsurge of right-wing populism. It responds to many recent challenges and a variety of 'discursive shifts' and wider dynamics of media and public discourses that have taken place as a result of the upswing of right-wing populism (RWP) across Europe and beyond. We examine not only the nature or the state-of-the-art of contemporary RWP but also point to its ontology within and beyond the field of politics and argue that the rise and success of RWP is certainly not a recent or a momentary phenomenon.

Brexit: Towards a new global phase of organized capitalism?

The main argument in the article is that the Brexit vote and strategy of the government of the UK post-Brexit should be seen as part of wider developments in global capitalism. It is suggested that there is a counter-movement against liberal capitalism that was triggered by the economic crisis of 2008 and the stagnating incomes that set in as austerity policies were widely pursued. The new direction is termed as organized capitalism, with a stronger focus on the national level. This is reflected in the election of Donald Trump in the US, the rise of right-wing populist parties in Continental Europe and the erosion of global liberal institutions. Organized capitalism does not have to be reactionary as it may open up wider options for societal influences on the economy that can be a source of social reforms.