Does ethno-territorial identity matter in populist party support? Evidence on the demand-side from 19 populist radical right and populist radical left national and regionalist parties

Abstract

This article investigates to what extent citizens' conceptions of nation-state identity and European identity contribute to the support for populist radical parties along the left-right and the national level and sub-state divide. Drawing on data European Social Survey data, it employs multinomial and logistical regression models to examine the connection between territorial identity and support for majority nationalist Populist Radical Right Parties (PRRP) (9 cases), national-level Populist Radical Left Parties (PRLP) (4 cases), sub-national PRRP (3 cases), and subnational PRLP (3 cases). The overall findings confirm that nationstate identity and European identity have independent and significant effects. In several of the cases, a strong nation-state identity is positively related to support for (a) majority nationalist PRRP. A (negative) European identity is a central characteristic throughout the sample of majority nationalist PRRP and present in every single case. Sub-state PRRP supporters reject nation-state identity and, interestingly, in one case also European identity more than do other partisans. Identity effects, especially a negative nation-state identity, were present among PRLP supporters too. However, the evidence points to significantly less coherence.

Territorial Populism

“…Despite growing academic interest and debate on populism and party politics, including an increasing empirical interest in the regional and subnational dimensions related to support for populist parties, especially in Europe (e.g. Heinisch & Jansesberger, 2023;Heinisch et al, 2021;Van Hauwaert et al, 2019), relatively few research studies theoretically investigate populism as a concept from a territory-oriented perspective (Mazzoleni et al, 2023). It is surprising that, when approaching the varied literature on populism, the role of the concept of territory is often marginal, neglected or even explicitly excluded.…”

“…Similarly, the nexus of people and territory can articulate within localist and regionalist mobilisations, as opposed to other scales of identity (e.g. Heinisch & Jansesberger, 2023). Populist rhetoric often centres around resentment as the people are presented as victims, legitimate sovereigns who have been defrauded of their rights and prerogatives (Betz, 2018).…”

Ethnic and Islamist populism in Turkey and its impact on Kurdish nationalism

“…Belgium, Italy, Spain and Britain have all been sites of this merging of populism and sub‐state nationalism or regionalism. Some sub‐state nationalist parties in these countries took up the populist discourse (Heinisch & Jansesberger, 2021: 5–6). Some leftist sub‐national parties like Plaid Cymru and SNP in Britain shifted also towards the politics composed of a synthesis of populism, nationalism and regionalism (Heinisch et al, 2018: 925).…”