The geography of the nationalist right in Portugal: outlines of an emerging process

Abstract

Resumo A emergência da direita nacionalista em Portugal nas eleições legislativas de 2019 é aqui contextualizada nos fenómenos populistas europeus do mesmo tipo nas décadas mais recentes e na geografia do descontentamento que lhes está associada. A análise da territorialização da votação nesse novo partido, o Chega, na escala municipal, apresenta um padrão que não se coaduna com o que tem sido a geografia eleitoral em Portugal desde a Revolução Democrática de 1974, sugerindo as correlações com um conjunto alargado de variáveis com uma forte motivação identitária da sua base eleitoral, que aparece associada a alguns elementos de desvantagem social e económica. Simultaneamente, a sociologia dos eleitores do Chega apresenta alguns aspetos surpreendentes em face do que se sabe para a generalidade dos casos europeus.

Political Neglect and Support for the Radical Right: The Case of Rural Portugal

“…Afonso's (2021) aggregate-level analysis of support for the presidential bid of André Ventura, Chega's founder and leader, pointed to greater success in less densely populated areas. Heyne and Manucci (2021) similarly find that Chega's supporters are more likely to live in rural rather than in urban areas (see also Madeira et al, 2021;Afonso, forthcoming).…”

“…However, from these points of view, the rise of the populist radical right and its strength in rural Portugal is an intriguing phenomenon. The very few studies published so far about the electoral basis of Chega -such as Afonso (2021 and forthcoming) and Madeira et al (2021) using aggregate data, or Heyne and Manucci (2021) using survey data -confirm the greater strength of the populist right in rural areas. However, the mechanism behind this seems elusive.…”

The cost of participation: An analysis of the financial dimensions of participatory budgets in Portugal

“…The first factor concerns the increasing target on young people in PBs (Dias, Cardita, et al, 2021) that, however, seem to hold significant degrees of instability and unstable levels of participation, as well as reduced budgetary provisions (Allegretti & Copello, 2018; Bogo, 2020). The second factor regards PB dissemination in Northern regions of the country, mostly governed by center‐right governments (see also Madeira et al, 2021), thus marking a new trend. Finally, the fourth wave was characterized by scaled up PBs at the regional and national levels.…”