Competing forms of populism and territorial politics: the cases of Vox and Podemos in Spain

Abstract

For years right-wing populism was regarded as an irrelevant phenomenon in Spain. The recent success of Vox provides clear evidence that the transformation of Spanish politics is still under way. Today, both right-wing and left-wing populism -the latter represented by Podemos -coexist in an increasingly fragmented party system. This article shows that territorial mobilization has been an important factor in the emergence of these two competing forms of populism. In fact, their positioning on the so-called 'centre-periphery cleavage' at the moment of their initial success is their most notable element of differentiation. Right-wing populism in Spain is strongly anti-localist and anti-regionalist and this is clearly reflected in the territorial distribution of its support. On the other hand, left-wing populism had its electoral breakthrough particularly in those areas where demands for autonomy and even independence were stronger. This makes the Spanish case extremely interesting since most studies have not sufficiently considered the territorial dimension as a defining, and distinguishing, feature of right-wing and left-wing forms of populism.

Assessing and Explaining the Diverging Trajectories of Territorial Parties and Politics in Italy and Spain (2008‐2018)

“…From 2018, the worsening of centre‐periphery tensions even contributed to the emergence of a new right‐wing party, Vox. This party negates other nationalities and regional identities in Spain and primarily mobilises against centrifugal territorial tendencies coming from regions pushing for more autonomy or independence, Catalonia being the main target (Vampa 2020). More generally, competition in the Spanish general elections of April and November 2019 was heavily shaped by how all parties positioned themselves on the centre‐periphery dimension (Gray 2020).…”

COVID-19: A Political Virus? VOX’s Populist Discourse in Times of Crisis

“…and claims that "subsidized radical feminist organizations" should be suppressed (VOX, 2019b: 17). In line with other radical rightwing parties (Ivarsflaten, 2008), VOX displays a clearly antiimmigration rhetoric (Vampa, 2020). For instance, they call for "deportation of illegal immigrants to their countries of origin", new requirements and barriers for nationality and establishing quotas based on linguistic and cultural criteria (VOX, 2019b: 5-6).…”

Polarisation and Electoral Realignment: The Case of the Right-Wing Parties in Spain

“…Vox had been created at the end of 2013 by former conservative PP members who had recently left the party, like Santiago Abascal. Vox criticised PP's tolerance regarding regional nationalisms and the Spanish model of devolution (Vampa 2020), but more generally defended traditional conservative values -with particular emphasis against Islamic immigrants and feminism -in contrast with PP's moderate catch-all ideology.…”

“…Other scholars argue that new parties adopt innovative strategies, like issue entrepreneurship or anti-establishment rhetoric, to challenge mainstream forces (de Vries & Hobolt 2020;Hutter, Kriesi & Vidal 2018;Mudde 2007). In particular, antiimmigration and authoritarian attitudes have been important drivers of support for radical right forces (Donovan 2019;Mudde 2007) and some scholars have claimed this is the case for Vox (Vampa 2020). However, the rapid decline of PP happened in spite of its management of a robust economic recovery, and its incumbency position helped the party to maintain its electoral base until it was expelled from government through a no-confidence vote in 2018.…”