To blur or not to blur: Disentangling populist ideology and electoral strategy in Europe and Latin America

Populist parties have become a global phenomenon, winning elections and referenda from the United Kingdom to El Salvador. We argue that the success of populism can be partially attributed to its ideological and strategic malleability. Building on previous work that characterizes populism as a thin-centered ideology, we argue that the flexibility of populist ideology makes populist parties particularly adaptable to the local context at the strategic level. Leveraging the distinction between inclusive and exclusive populism, we argue that populist parties' strategic blurring patterns differ significantly across Europe and Latin America. We test this argument using data from the Chapel Hill Expert Survey and show that the relationship between populism and blurring is region-specific. Populists in Europe blur economic positions and present clear socio-cultural positions. In Latin America, populist parties present clearer economic positions than non-populists. This paper adds to our understanding of how populism and political context structure parties’ strategies around the globe.