Resurgence of Populism in a Time of Crisis: the Cases of Italy and Greece

The paper is based on the perspective of comparative politics and its aim is to analyze the resurgence of populist movements and parties in South and South-Eastern Europe during the current economic and political crisis. Prior to the crisis political scientists in these two countries had mostly been coping with the phenomenon of the far-right (in Italy) and far-left (in Greece), while excluding to a certain degree research on populism in the sense of a special category covering political actors from both sides of the political spectrum. As a result of the economic crisis and subsequent structural changes in political and party system in both countries a new approach seems to be necessary when analyzing the newly emerged political entities and their programs. Such a new approach could be then used also in the case of “old” and established parties which have undergone a major radicalization towards populism in the time of crisis. This paper aims to compare main political changes and mutations of party system which occurred in Italy and Greece during the economic and political crisis, since the comparison of these two countries reveals many similarities, as well as very important differences. Even though we observed a rise of populism in both countries, its impact on the political system and institutions differed. The paper will compare these variables according to four principles of populism by Albertazzi and McDonnell. These principles consist of the role of the leader in the success of populist ideas, openness of the political environment to new populist movements, particular opportunity structures helping to the development of populism and strategies of mainstream parties in reaction to the populist rhetoric. This analysis could explain how and to what extent there exists a correlation between the depth of the crisis and the success of populist movements.