Populist Parties in Europe: Agents of Discontent?

248 Pages·2015·0.912 MB·English

by  Stijn van Kessel (auth.)

Populist Parties in Europe
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Populist Parties in Europe
Agents of Discontent?
Stijn van Kessel
Department of Politics, History and International Relations,
Loughborough University, UK, and
Institut für Deutsches und Internationales Parteienrecht und
Parteienforschung (PRuF), Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Germany
© Stijn van Kessel 2015
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2015 978-1-137-41410-6
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in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2015 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
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ISBN 978-1-349-49012-7 ISBN 978-1-137-41411-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137414113
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Contents
List of Illustrations vi
Acknowledgements v ii
List of Abbreviations i x
1 Introduction: Studying Populism in European Party Systems 1
2 Populist Parties across Europe 33
3 Paths to Populist Electoral Success and Failure: fsQCA Analysis 7 4
4 Populist Parties in the Netherlands 99
5 Populist Parties in Poland 121
6 Populist Parties in the United Kingdom 1 44
7 Conclusion: Populist Parties and Their Electoral Performance 1 69
Appendices 1 84
Appendix A List of Consulted Country Experts 184
Appendix B Country Expert Questionnaire 186
Appendix C QCA Data 187
Appendix D List of Interviewees 194
Appendix E Expert Survey (Case Studies) 196
Notes 1 98
Bibliography 2 04
Index 2 29
v
List of Illustrations
Figures
1.1 Explanatory model concerning the electoral performance
of populist parties 28
3.1 Plot of cases’ membership in POPSUC against their
membership in CREDIB 86
Tables
2.1 Populist parties in Europe that gained parliamentary
representation after national elections between 2000
and 2013 71
3.1 Conditions in the fsQCA 77
3.2 Calibrated data for the fsQCA (period: 2000–2013) 8 4
3.3 Truth Table 88
3.4 Paths implying POPSUC (period: 2000–2013) 9 1
3.5 Paths implying ~POPSUC (period: 2000–2013) 9 4
3.6 Paths implying POPSUC (last election) 95
4.1 Dutch parliamentary election results 1998–2012, in % of
the vote 104
4.2 Motivations of PVV voters (spontaneous response to
open-ended question), in % of PVV-voting respondents 1 11
5.1 Polish parliamentary election results 1997–2011, in % of
the vote 124
6.1 UK general election results 1997–2010, in % of
the vote and seats 154
A.1 Election results of populist parties between 2000 and 2013 1 87
A.2 Raw data for the PR, ECOHARD, EURSCEP and CORRUP
conditions 190
A.3 Calculation of UNRESP values 191
A .4 Calculation of NATIV values 192
A.5 Data for the fsQCA concerning the latest election results 1 93
vi
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the many people who have provided valuable
substantive feedback and/or moral support. The research done during
my time as a doctoral student at the University of Sussex forms the basis
of this book. First of all, I thank my former supervisors Aleks Szczerbiak
and Paul Taggart. Thanks to their intensive guidance at the very early
stages of the process, I was able to promptly and confidently get the
project underway, and the meetings that followed always provided me
with a clear sense of direction. I look back with pleasure at the enjoy-
able discussions, and I am particularly grateful for their encouragement
and enduring readiness to provide advice. I would also like to thank the
other members of the department for contributing to the friendly and
collegial atmosphere. Special thanks go to those of the preceding ‘gener-
ation’ of DPhil students who were present at the time of my arrival, and
throughout most of my years at Sussex, for making me feel at home so
quickly: John FitzGibbon, Martine Huberty and Dan Keith. I also thank
Elisabeth Carter and Paul Webb, who provided me with useful comments
and feedback during my v iva voce, and the V SBfonds and Prins Bernhard
Cultuurfonds for their support at the time of my doctoral studies.
In my post-Sussex period I ended up in various departments, where
colleagues have also contributed to the finalisation of this research
project. I would like to thank in particular Niels Spierings and Andrej
Zaslove at the Radboud University for valuable feedback and support.
At the VU University in Amsterdam, my former MSc supervisor Ben
Crum provided feedback and advice during the embryonic stages of
the project. I subsequently started my lectureship at Loughborough
University, and I am very grateful for Loughborough’s readiness to grant
me a two-year research leave at the Party Research Institute (PRuF) at the
Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf. This gave me the opportunity to
concentrate fully on this book. My fellowship in Düsseldorf has been
made possible by the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, which I thank for
its generous support. I would also like to thank Thomas Poguntke for
his advice and readiness to act as my academic host during my post-
doctoral fellowship.
Moving beyond my immediate working environment, I am grateful
to the many scholars listed in Appendix A who have kindly shared
vii
viii Acknowledgements
their knowledge of party systems covered in this book. Among those
I harassed most frequently are Daniele Albertazzi, Sergiu Gherghina,
Duncan McDonnell and Jens Rydgren. The (anonymous) scholars
who participated in the three conducted expert surveys have also been
of great help, and I am further indebted to the interviewees listed in
Appendix D who took the time to speak with me and to share their
insights. I would also like to thank Simona Guerra and Bartek Napieralski
for their feedback on an earlier draft of the Polish case study chapter,
and Sabina Avdagic, Emelie Lilliefeldt, Carsten Q. Schneider, Barbara Vis
and Claudius Wagemann for their comments on preliminary or more
advanced draft QCA analyses. Naturally, any shortcomings and errors in
this book are entirely my own responsibility.
I would further like to thank the members of the team at Palgrave
Macmillan who have been involved in this book project Amber
Stone-Galilee, Sara Crowley-Vigneau, Andrew Baird, and Jemima Warren.
Several other academic colleagues and friends have also provided feedback
and support throughout the past years, and should also be mentioned
for their more general kindness: Simona Guerra, S askia Hollander, André
Krouwel and Andrea Pirro. I could, furthermore, always rely on my loyal
friends Jochem Brons, Chris Heijs and Wouter Prause for their unfal-
tering assistance in moving my possessions between the countries I lived
in. Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my brother and
sister, Nard and Jaco van Kessel, and their other halves, Rinske Piek and
Ruben Klaphake, for their love, support and encouragement. I am also
indebted to my parents, Jos and Klarie van Kessel, for having provided
me with the biological stuff that enabled me to finish this book, and
with a safe and loving environment for me to grow up in. I am particu-
larly thankful to my mother, who taught me the values and discipline
which helped me in completing my work. It saddens me deeply not to
be able to share my experiences with my parents or to show them the
results of my work.
List of Abbreviations
ść
AWS A kcja Wyborcza Solidarno (Solidarity Electoral Action,
Poland)
BNP B ritish National Party
CBOS C entrum Badania Opinii Społecznej (Public Opinion Research
Centre, Poland)
CD C entrumdemocraten (Centre Democrats, the Netherlands)
CDA C hristen Democratisch Appel (Christian Democratic Appeal,
the Netherlands)
CP C entrumpartij (Centre Party, the Netherlands)
EP E uropean Parliament
EU E uropean Union
fsQCA f uzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis
LN L eefbaar Nederland (Liveable Netherlands)
LPF L ijst Pim Fortuyn (List Pim Fortuyn, the Netherlands)
LPR L iga Polskich Rodzin (League of Polish Families)
MEP M ember of the European Parliament
MP M ember of Parliament
NF N ational Front (UK)
ść
PiS P rawo i Sprawiedliwo (Law and Justice, Poland)
PO P latforma Obywatelska (Civic Platform, Poland)
PR P roportional Representation
PRR Populist Radical Right
PSL P olskie Stronnictwo Ludowe (Polish Peasant Party)
PvdA P artij van de Arbeid (Labour Party, the Netherlands)
PVV P artij voor de Vrijheid (Freedom Party, the Netherlands)
QCA Q ualitative Comparative Analysis
SLD S ojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej (Democratic Left Alliance,
Poland)
SMP S ingle Member Plurality
SO S amoobrona Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej (Self Defence, Poland)
SP S ocialistische Partij (Socialist Party, the Netherlands)
TON T rots op Nederland (Proud of the Netherlands)
UKIP U K Independence Party
VVD V olkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie (Liberal Party, the
Netherlands)
ix