The Anti-Austerity Party in Southern Europe: A Neglected Party of the Working Class

Inequality in the Global North has skyrocketed over the past few decades, and yet voters have not demanded redistribution at the ballot box. This curious phenomenon has revitalised the study of political cleavages and political inequality. Why are redistributive parties not electorally successful and why are poor voters not supporting them en masse? In this paper, I argue that the 2010s saw the emergence of a new type of redistributive party in Southern Europe - one that was both electorally successful and supported by working class voters. I call these parties anti-austerity parties, because they emerged in Southern European countries that implemented severe austerity after the Global Financial Crisis. I assemble a dataset that includes the history of political cleavages in Southern Europe (Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain). To that end, I also include an original discussion of the history of political cleavages in Greece (1981-2023) and Cyprus (2001-2021), adding both countries to the World Political Cleavages and Inequality Database (WPID). This allows me to analyse the distinct demand-side characteristics that anti-austerity parties display. My main finding is that unlike other left-wing parties, anti-austerity parties continue to enjoy strong working-class support.