Varieties of identity politics: A macro-historical approach

Appealing to voters’ group identities is one of the most effective ways for new parties to gain a foothold in electoral politics. Yet new parties can do so in different ways. Across the twentieth century, some new party families have appealed chiefly to a politics of group solidarity, mobilizing a cohesive ingroup against a clear outgroup, while other parties have turned instead towards a politics of group antagonism, mobilizing a heterogenous voter base with outgroup appeals. In this paper I introduce a distinction between two ‘styles’ of identity politics that new parties can employ as they seek to establish an electoral foothold: solidaristic identity politics and oppositional identity politics. While solidaristic identity politics has been a winning strategy for many waves of new parties, challengers can only succeed with this style under certain structural and organizational conditions. I develop a theory to explain divergences in use of this approach and provide support for my hypotheses by comparing four waves of party entry in Western Europe, focusing on the cases of Great Britain and Germany: early 20th century socialist parties, interwar fascists, post-war green parties, and contemporary populists.