Explaining the Electoral Performance of Populist Parties: The Netherlands as a Case Study
2011; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 12; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/15705854.2011.546148
ISSN1570-5854
Autores Tópico(s)German legal, social, and political studies
ResumoAbstract Abstract This article provides an explanatory framework for the electoral performance of populist parties, using the Netherlands as a case study. The Netherlands is an ideal case, as several populist parties have entered the political scene in recent years with varying levels of electoral success. The most notable cases are the List Pim Fortuyn and Geert Wilders' Freedom Party. Whereas the former party did not sustain, Geert Wilders has, so far, managed to remain an important force in Dutch politics. The article argues that the performance of populist parties is dependent on a combination of causal conditions: the availability of the electorate, the responsiveness of established parties and the supply of credible populist challengers. As will be argued, especially this latter factor is vital to the (long-term) performance of populist parties. Further research should, therefore, not refrain from taking the agency of populist parties themselves into account. Key Words: Populismpolitical partieselectionsthe NetherlandsGeert WildersPim Fortuyn Acknowledgements The author would like to thank Aleks Szczerbiak, Paul Taggart, Paul Lucardie, Amy Busby and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions on earlier drafts. Notes 1All quotes from interviews, party documents and other literature in this section and beyond are translated from Dutch into English by the author. 2Ratelband, who had become a famous TV personality, did not have any political experience. His motivational training methods included loudly exclaiming the catchword 'Tsjakka' and convincing people to walk over hot coals barefoot. 3In order to show how close List 5 Fortuyn allegedly was to the original ideas of Pim Fortuyn, the party's campaign video showed a man – face concealed yet smartly dressed like Fortuyn – being parachuted from the skies, landing in the midst of the Dutch parliamentary buildings. The man turns out not to be Fortuyn, but Olaf Stuger.
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