Varieties of Radical Right Populism in Southern Europe: a comparative analysis of Lega, Vox and Chega!

The electoral success of radical right populist parties (RRPs) is one of the major novelties in South European politics of the last decade. Specially since the onset of the Eurocrisis, RRPs have risen to prominence in Italy and Greece and, more recently, in Portugal in Spain. Studies on the radical right have tried to explain the emergence and electoral success of these parties (Inglehart and Norris, 2016; Mendes and Dennison, 2020; Santana-Pereira and Cancela, 2021), their impact on party systems and coalitional patterns (Kitschelt, 2018) and their ideology and discourse (Betz, 2018; Vasilopoulou, 2018; Mudde, 2019). This research focuses on the latter. RRPs share some common ideological features. These include nativist and authoritarian views that are translated, albeit with varying degrees, in an opposition to immigration and international integration as policy stances (Arzheimer, 2018; Mudde, 2019). These positions are often articulated through a populist rethoric (Ruzza, 2019). There is still, however, little knowledge about the ideological positioning and diversity between these parties in major policy and ideological dimensions in European societies, namely their views on the economy, non-economic issues (post-materialist values) and European integration (Bakker et al., 2012). The present paper aims to contribute to this research gap by mapping the ideological and policy positions of RRPs in Italy, Portugal and Spain, namely Lega, Chega! and Vox, respectively. These south European countries present a relevant case of study, as they share many similarities - the impacts of the 2008 financial crisis and long-term weaknesses and inefficiencies of their state apparatuses -, which have created opportunities for a greater demand for radical right and populist agendas (Lisi et al., 2019). Nevertheless, they also present many differences among them, for example with Italy being more affected by migration fluxes. Lega was already an established party that was able to increase its electoral turnout during this decade, eventually becoming one of the most-voted parties in Italian parliament and entering a government coalition. Conversely, Chega! and Vox are two newly formed parties that only recently were able to gain parliamentary representation. While the parties focus on an anti-establishment, anti-immigration and populist agenda (Albertazzi et al., 2018; Marchi, 2020), what are their views on the economy, on social conservatism and on European integration? Are new RRPs (Vox and Chega!) more economically liberal than Lega? Is there a common view on social conservatism among RRPs? What are these parties’ views on European integration? In order to answer these questions, this research will be based, firstly, on a content analysis of electoral manifestos during the period 2011-2020 and, secondly, on party leaders’ political speeches during the electoral campaigns in the same period. This period encompasses the beginning of the implementation of the memorandum of understanding in Portugal (May 2011) and the application of austerity measures in these three countries, from a period where RRPs were virtually inexistent until a year 2020 where they are omnipresent in all these countries.