Unit:
Deparment of Political Science & Public AdministrationLibrary of the Faculties of Political Science and Public Administration, Communication and Mass Media Studies, Turkish and Modern Asian Studies, Sociology
Author:
Saoulidou Marina-Zoi
Dissertation committee:
Λουκάς Τσούκαλης, Ομότιμος Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Πολιτικής Επιστήμης και Δημόσιας Διοίκησης, ΕΚΠΑ
Δάφνη Χαλικιοπούλου, Καθηγήτρια, University of York
Δημήτριος Σωτηρόπουλος, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Πολιτικής Επιστήμης και Δημόσιας Διοίκησης, ΕΚΠΑ
Βασιλική Γεωργιάδου: Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Πολιτικής Επιστήμης και Ιστορίας, Πάντειο Πανεπιστήμιο
Δημήτριος Κατσίκας: Επίκουρος Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Πολιτικής Επιστήμης και Δημόσιας Διοίκησης, ΕΚΠΑ
Σωτήριος Ζαρταλούδης: Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, University of Birmingham
Λαμπρινή Ρόρη: Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Πολιτικής Επιστήμης και Δημόσιας Διοίκησης, ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
The strange equation of populism in times of redistribution conflicts: The Euro crisis and the shifting patterns of populist parties in debtor and creditor countries.
Translated title:
Η περίεργη εξίσωση του λαϊκισμού σε περιόδους αναδιανεμητικών συγκρούσεων. Η κρίση χρέους της Ευρωζώνης και τα μεταβαλλόμενα μοτίβα των λαϊκιστικών κομμάτων σε χρεώστριες και πιστώτριες χώρες.
Summary:
Populism is a complex and ideologically-charged concept, the definition and the causes of which are the subject of a long-standing debate among political scientists. In good economic times, the causal debate has focused on whether socio-economic or socio-cultural insecurities are the main factors behind the electoral success of populist parties (e.g. Norris and Inglehart, 2019; Rodrik, 2018). Nevertheless, the Eurozone crisis has shifted the academic attention towards whether and in what way economic turbulence may contribute to the increased demand for populist politics (e.g. Funke et al., 2016; Eichengreen, 2018; 2019; Frieden, 2015; 2017 Algan et al., 2017). The advocates of economic explanations for the recent rise of populism argue that austerity and fiscal consolidation measures are positively related to the electoral success of both left-and right-wing populist parties as they tend to trigger, or accentuate, a broad popular disenchantment with the political elites, thereby creating a window of opportunity for the challenger political players.
In the immediate aftermath of the crisis, the positive relation between economic turmoil and populism was confirmed in a number of debtor countries, including Greece. Yet, Portugal remained a striking exception. Likewise, within the creditor group of countries Germany experienced a steep rise in populism, while in the Netherlands the aggregate populist vote share showed only marginal changes. These unexpected patterns of populism in such similar countries constitutes an interesting puzzle, with which this thesis is concerned. More specifically, this study seeks to find what is the causal mechanism behind the rise of populism in creditor and debtor countries in the aftermath of an economic crisis? And more generally, under what circumstances may the electoral gains for populist parties remain marginal?
The argument of the thesis is that populism is not a direct or an inescapable fallout from an economic crisis, as the process that links them is context-dependent. Therefore, whether a debtor country will ride the wave of populism is conditioned on the duration of the crisis, the presence of viable alternative challenger parties and populists’ ‘bids’ on the crisis-related issues. On the other hand, in creditor countries, populist parties will be able to capitalize on popular discontent with the old party system only in the presence of pent-up grievances, low levels of electoral pragmatism and populist parties that can outbid the other parties. These mechanisms not only may apply to a number of other countries but they also offer new tools for studying the populist phenomenon in connection with other critical junctures.
Main subject category:
Social, Political and Economic sciences
Keywords:
European Union, economic crises, Eurozone, populism, party competition, electoral behaviour
Number of references:
764
File:
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PERGAMOS_SAOULIDOU_MARINA_ZOI.pdf
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File access is restricted until 2027-05-17.
