The Normalisation of Left/Right Populism?

Abstract

Electoral successes of populist right- and left-wing parties have increasingly challenged mainstream parties throughout Europe in terms of both political competition and forms of (potential) political cooperation. Diverse populist parties have already participated in coalition governments or even governed alone. Contiguous to relevant parties, populist movements have concentrated frustration, protest and criticism and directed such attitudes and feelings against mainstream national and European political elites. Moreover, populist rhetoric, style and content have become socially more acceptable and even reached the political mainstream. Borders and differences between populist and non-populist parties, movements and politicians tend to blur. Not least, those developments also affect electoral behavior. Notwithstanding populism has meanwhile appeared in diverse forms and types, and grave differences between left and right populism are obvious, the panel focuses on processes of “normalization” of both political phenomena. The contributions either take selected European countries such as Germany, Italy and Sweden as examples, or assume a cross-European perspective. The papers also present a variety of quantitative and qualitative social science methods and approaches to the analysis of the issues put up for discussion.