The end of Iberian Exceptionalism: The role of the authoritarian past and right-wing populist support

Classic party politics literature confirmed a long time ago that so-called third-wave far right parties present a clear (clean) break with the(ir) authoritarian (or fascist) past. The question remains, however, whether this is the case for their supporters as well. With that in mind, our paper examines to what extent right-wing populist supporters hold attitudes reflective of the country’s authoritarian past, on the one hand, and look back on this authoritarian past as favourable or desirable, on the other hand. Some countries with an authoritarian past have been extensively studied in this regard (e.g. Italy, Greece), primarily because of their firm presence of (right-wing) populism. Other countries, like Spain and Portugal, have long been understudied simply because of the absence of right-wing populism. With the end of Iberian Exceptionalism, we seek to contribute to the latter by examining how VOX and Chega supporters reflect on the(ir) authoritarian past.