Chasing the Other “Populist Zeitgeist”? Mainstream Parties and the Rise of Right-Wing Populism

Abstract

This article answers the question of why certain European mainstream parties have changed their policy positions on the GAL-TAN (Green/Alternative/Libertarian vs. Traditional/Authoritarian/Nationalist) dimension in recent years. I argue that these changes can be explained through the electoral success of new right-wing populist parties and the ideological proximity of conservative mainstream parties towards these parties. These arguments were tested with econometric models of mainstream parties’ policy positions in 11 Western European democracies between 2002 and 2019. The results indicate that mainstream parties chase the other “populist zeitgeist” by changing their policy positions on the GAL–TAN dimension in response to the electoral success of right-wing populist parties. Mainstream parties respond to this threat by closing the distance to these parties on the GAL–TAN dimension. However, this responsiveness is largely constrained to conservative mainstream parties. The findings have important implications for understanding mainstream party responsiveness towards rivalling right-wing populist parties.

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“…An expectedly typical behaviour of conservative-right forces is to adapt to right-wing populist attitudes on the issue of migration. This is particularly the case when vote losses have occurred or are imminent (Bayerlein, 2021). If these approaches were successful, the increase in rightwing populist votes would not exist.…”

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Support for the German AfD: Jumping the Populist Ship or Staying the Course?

“… 2018 ; Hambauer and Mays 2018 ). Based on this, Arzheimer and Berning ( 2019 ) conclude that the demand and supply-structures of the AfD now resemble those of other European radical right-wing parties with a strong focus on issues related to the GAL-TAN dimension of political contestation, especially migration and nativism (see also Bayerlein 2021 ).…”