Subnational Roads to National Success? Decentralization and the electoral performance of populist parties in Europe

In recent years, few topics have raised more public concern and academic attention in Europe than that of the rise of populism. Support for populist parties in numerous European democracies has increased dramatically at national and sub-national levels alike. Not only such parties have now obtained representation in the national parliaments of most European countries, but they have also gained considerable influence over policy making, by joining governments or leading them. Despite extensive research on the causes of the electoral success of populist parties, the literature has been mostly silent on the possible impact of a relevant institutional factor: political decentralization. This paper aims to fill this gap by presenting a theoretical and empirical account of the influence of the degree of decentralization on the emergence and electoral performance of populist parties. Using data from election results in 20 European countries, this paper puts to the test competing hypotheses on the influence of decentralization on the emergence and national success of populist parties.