Populism in Europe

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Populism exists in Europe.

19th and 20th centuries

In the Russian Empire during the late 19th century, the

narodnichestvo movement emerged, championing the cause of the empire's peasantry against the governing elites.[1] The movement was unable to secure its objectives, however it inspired other agrarian movements across eastern Europe in the early 20th century.[2] Although the Russian movement was primarily a movement of the middle class and intellectuals "going to the people", in some respects their agrarian populism was similar to that of the U.S. People's Party, with both presenting small farmers (the peasantry in Europe) as the foundation of society and main source of societal morality.[2] According to Eatwell, the narodniks "are often seen as the first populist movement".[3]

Ilya Repin's painting, Arrest of a Propagandist (1892), which depicts the arrest of a narodnik.

In German-speaking Europe, the

class struggle and the idea that the working classes are affected by false consciousness are also antithetical to populist ideas.[2]

In the years following the

Second World War, populism was largely absent from Europe, in part due to the domination of elitist Marxism–Leninism in Eastern Europe and a desire to emphasize moderation among many West European political parties.[5] However, over the coming decades, a number of right-wing populist parties emerged throughout the continent.[6] These were largely isolated and mostly reflected a conservative agricultural backlash against the centralization and politicization of the agricultural sector then occurring.[7] These included Guglielmo Giannini's Common Man's Front in 1940s Italy, Pierre Poujade's Union for the Defense of Tradesmen and Artisans in late 1950s France, Hendrik Koekoek's Farmers' Party of the 1960s Netherlands, and Mogens Glistrup's Progress Party of 1970s Denmark.[6] Between the late 1960s and the early 1980s there also came a concerted populist critique of society from Europe's New Left, including from the new social movements and from the early Green parties.[8] However it was only in the late 1990s, according to Mudde and Rovira Kaltwasser, that populism became "a relevant political force in Europe", one which could have a significant impact on mainstream politics.[7]

Following the fall of the

José María Ruiz Mateos, Jesús Gil and Mario Conde, businessmen who entered politics chiefly to defend their personal economic interests, but by the turn of the millennium their proposals had proved to meet a limited support at the ballots at the national level.[13]

Germany

Further information: Völkisch movement

Adam Mueller went a step further by positing the belief that the state was a larger totality than the government institutions. This paternalistic vision of aristocracy concerned with social orders had a dark side in that the opposite force of modernity was represented by the Jews, who were said to be eating away at the state.[14] Populism also played a role in mobilizing middle class support for the Nazi Party in Weimar Germany.[15]

21st century

French National Front, the "prototypical radical right party" which used populism to advance its cause.[16]

At the turn of the 21st century, populist rhetoric and movements became increasingly apparent in Western Europe.[17] Populist rhetoric was often used by opposition parties. For example, in the 2001 electoral campaign, the Conservative Party leader William Hague accused Tony Blair's governing Labour Party government of representing "the condescending liberal elite". Hague repeatedly referring to it as "metropolitan", implying that it was out of touch with "the people", who in Conservative discourse are represented by "Middle England".[18] Blair's government also employed populist rhetoric; in outlining legislation to curtail fox hunting on animal welfare grounds, it presented itself as championing the desires of the majority against the upper-classes who engaged in the sport.[19] Blair's rhetoric has been characterised as the adoption of a populist style rather than the expression of an underlying populist ideology.[20]

By the 21st century, European populism

Eurosceptic sentiment towards the European Union, albeit largely from a socialist and anti-austerity perspective rather than the nationalist perspective adopted by their right-wing counterparts.[11]

Austria

The Austrian Freedom party (FPO) was formed from the remnants of the longstanding League of Independents (VdU). The party was primarily made up of German Nationalists and former Nazis who saw Austria both as part of the German Kulturnation and as its own, self-governing state.[24] In its contemporary form, the party is characterized by Austrian nationalism,[25] Euroscepticism,[26] anti-immigration,[26] and anti-Islamic[27] attitudes (all traits commonly associated with right-wing populist ideologies).

Italy

Italy's former Deputy Prime Minister and League's leader, Matteo Salvini, is considered one of the most prominent right-wing populist politicians in Europe.

When

2008; he was Prime Minister of Italy for almost ten years.[29] Throughout its existence, Berlusconi's party was characterised by a strong reliance on the personal image and charisma of its leader—it has therefore been called a "personality party"[30][31] or Berlusconi's "personal party"[32][33][34]—and the skillful use of media campaigns, especially via television.[35] The party's organisation and ideology depended heavily on its leader. Its appeal to voters was based on Berlusconi's personality more than on its ideology or programme.[36]

Italy's most prominent

secessionist party, founded in 1991 as a federation of several regional parties of Northern and Central Italy, most of which had arisen and expanded during the 1980s. LN's program advocates the transformation of Italy into a federal state, fiscal federalism and greater regional autonomy, especially for the Northern regions. At times, the party has advocated for the secession of the North, which it calls Padania.[38][39][40][41] Certain LN members have been known to publicly deploy the offensive slur "terrone", a common pejorative term for Southern Italians that is evocative of negative Southern Italian stereotypes.[38][39][42] With the rise of immigration into Italy since the late 1990s, LN has increasingly turned its attention to criticizing mass immigration to Italy. The LN, which also opposes illegal immigration, is critical of Islam and proposes Italy's exit from the eurozone. Since 2013, under the leadership of Matteo Salvini, the party has to some extent embraced Italian nationalism and emphasised Euroscepticism, opposition to immigration and other "populist" policies, while forming an alliance with right-wing populist parties in Europe.[43][44][45]

In 2009, former comedian, blogger and activist

Eurosceptic party in the European Union.[48]

The 2018 Italian general election was characterized by a strong showing by populist movements like Salvini's League and Luigi Di Maio’s Five Stars.[49][50] In June, the two populist parties formed a government led by Giuseppe Conte.[51]

United Kingdom

UK Labour Party
Nigel Farage, former leader of the right-wing populist party UKIP

The UK Labour Party under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn had been called populist,[52][53][54] with the slogan "for the many not the few" having been used.[55][56][57]

Brexit

Populism and its influence on the 2016 UK referendum on membership of the European Union

The

2016 UK referendum on membership of the European Union, in which British citizens voted to leave, some have claimed the "Brexit" as a victory for populism, encouraging a flurry of calls for referendums among other EU countries by populist political parties.[63]

The populist Brexit Party was founded for the 2019 European Parliament elections in the United Kingdom,[64] and its successor, Reform UK, continues to follow populist sentiments in its campaigning.[65]

In 2021, the YouGov-Cambridge Globalism Project's annual populism tracker found populist beliefs in broadly sustained decline over three years in 10 European countries. Political scientists said the results showed "a clear pattern of decreasing support for populism".[66]

References

  1. ^ Mudde & Rovira Kaltwasser 2017, p. 32.
  2. ^ a b c d Mudde & Rovira Kaltwasser 2017, p. 33.
  3. ^ a b Eatwell 2017, p. 366.
  4. ^ Eatwell 2017, pp. 366–367.
  5. ^ Mudde & Rovira Kaltwasser 2017, pp. 33–34.
  6. ^ a b Mudde 2004, p. 548.
  7. ^ a b c Mudde & Rovira Kaltwasser 2017, p. 34.
  8. ^ Mudde 2004, p. 548; March 2007, p. 66.
  9. ^ Mudde & Rovira Kaltwasser 2017, p. 35.
  10. ^ a b Mudde & Rovira Kaltwasser 2017, p. 36.
  11. ^ a b c Mudde & Rovira Kaltwasser 2017, p. 37.
  12. ^ March 2007, p. 67.
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  16. ^ Mudde & Rovira Kaltwasser 2017, pp. 34–35.
  17. ^ Mudde 2004, p. 550; Albertazzi & McDonnell 2008, p. 2.
  18. ^ Mudde 2004, p. 550.
  19. ^ Mudde 2004, p. 551.
  20. ^ Bang & Marsh 2018, p. 354.
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  36. ^ Woods, Dwayne (2014). The Many Faces of Populism in Italy: The Northern League and Berlusconism. Emerald Group. pp. 42–43. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
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  47. ^ "We appeal to the instincts of people. We are populists for real. There is nothing to be ashamed of." Grillo, confessione a eletti M5S: 'Finzione politica l'impeachment di Napolitano' Archived 4 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine Il Fatto Quotidiano, 30 October 2013
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