Abstract
Absorbing the Blow constitutes a timely and relevant contribution to the increasingly crowded field of populism studies. The literature on the ideological characteristics of European populist parties and conditions favouring or hampering their performance is already extensive. This volume moves beyond such questions by focusing on the impact these parties have on national party systems, considering in particular the effect on competition for votes, on the one hand, and competition for government, on the other. Given that populist parties are in many countries no longer insignificant fringe actors, focusing on the question of impact becomes ever more relevant. One key conclusion of the volume is that populist parties have often contributed to the expression of new issues, and typically increased the salience of the socio-cultural dimension of political competition. Although populist parties have become increasingly viable coalition partners, their impact on competition for government is more variable across countries; at least measured by traditional indicators, most party systems have shown to be quite resilient.
While this is not the first contribution on populist party impact, the volume adds to the literature by presenting a collection of case studies that provide an in-depth understanding of populist mobilisation and its consequences in a variety of European countries. The volume demonstrates the merits of the comparative case study approach. Notwithstanding the value of quantitative studies, the book shows that domestic historical, institutional, political and social contexts are often key to genuinely understanding the performance and impact of individual populist parties. The chapters show how populist parties define and oppose country-specific establishments (e.g. the cartelised political system in Austria, the partitocrazia in Italy, or the ‘cosmopolitan elites’ in Hungary and Poland). In addition, the extent to which populist parties are able to make an impact is shown to be conditional on, inter alia, institutional rules and the extent to which mainstream parties can continue to build traditional alliances. At the same time, the volume allows for systematic comparison. Since the individual chapters focus on the same central question, the concluding chapter is able to make insightful comparative observations about general patterns, but also areas of divergence.
Most chapters in the volume do, indeed, stick close to the general framework that is presented in the introductory chapter, even though individual contributions vary in the extent to which they provide historical context, and the depth in which they analyse how mainstream parties have responded programmatically to the populist challenge. Although it could have been more neatly organised, the concluding chapter provides a comprehensive comparative discussion of the main observations, and raises questions about the usefulness of traditional concepts and indicators of party system change.
The volume is innovative in moving beyond the West European context and including two prominent cases from post-communist Europe: Poland and Hungary – although, from a comparative perspective, there might have been reason to discuss the case of Law and Justice in Poland in similar depth as FIDESZ in Hungary. One weakness in terms of case selection is the shortage of left-wing populist parties, which could have been circumvented by adding case studies on Spain or Greece. Ultimately, the contributions focus mainly on (radical) right-wing populist parties that are culturally conservative and typically focus on issues related to immigration and multiculturalism. In her analysis of the Dutch case, Sarah de Lange observes that the populist left-wing Socialist Party has had a relatively minor impact partly due to its status as ‘purifier’; it has promoted traditional and already politicised socio-economic issues, as opposed to radical right ‘prophets’, which accelerated party system change by mobilising on the basis of ‘new’ cultural issues. Selecting more countries with prominent left-wing populist cases would, for one, have allowed for more definitive conclusions about the relative impact of right-wing versus left-wing populist parties.
While the volume provides a rich and valuable contribution on the topic of populist impact, it also leaves scope for continued research. First, recent developments ask for an update of several case studies – it is, indeed, unfortunate that the wheels of academic publishing grind slowly. Several European elections in 2017 and 2018 have seen the further strengthening of populist forces, and populists have (again) entered office in countries including Austria and Italy. The conclusion that populist parties’ impact on competition for government has been relatively muted may thus need to be revisited. Second, there is still room for studies isolating what part of change is caused by populist parties as such. As several contributors point out, populist parties are only one of several sources of change. Furthermore, the rise of populist parties can also be interpreted as the result of societal change and shifting values. While there is little doubt that populist parties play an important part in changing the agenda of mainstream competitors, the latter also respond to other stimuli. Future studies can, for instance, unravel causal mechanisms by means of original interview data.