Different Strokes for Different Folks: Who Votes for Technocratic Parties?

Abstract

In this study, I look at two types of political actors commonly described as ‘populist’ in literature—namely, rightwing populists and technocratic leaders like France’s Emmanuel Macron and the Czech Republic’s Andrej Babiš. While both types of political actors tend to emerge as a response to a decline in trust in established parties and adopt platforms with anti-establishment and monist elements, they also possess noticeably different qualities. Unlike rightwing populists, technocrats lack a distinctive ideological profile and tend to adopt more inclusive rhetoric by appealing to a broadly-defined community of people. When contrasted with supporters of rightwing populists, empirical analysis of supporters of Macron’s and Babiš’ parties shows that the two have few commonalities. Relatively few examples of such political leadership, the lack of a distinct ideological profile and the variation of their support bases suggest that one should use caution when conceptualizing technocratic populists as a distinct theoretical type.

A Marriage of Convenience: Responsive Populists and Responsible Experts

“…This thematic issue shows that the dual approach of technocratic populism to governance makes it competitive against the established parties as well as the right-or left-wing populist parties. When in power, technocratic populism exploits ambiguity: It is flexible in its appeal, but also volatile and diffuse when it comes to the sources of its public support (Buštíková & Baboš, 2020;Perottino & Guasti, 2020;Snegovaya, 2020). Future research should study technocratic populism alongside more traditional types of populism and might focus on the sources of its appeal, executive competence, and its effect on liberal democracy.…”

“…Instead, he created new forms of responsiveness by 'giving voice to the people' while at the same time relying on technocratic competence. Snegovaya (2020) compares support for the rightwing parties and technocratic populists in France and the Czech Republic. She finds that voters for right-wing populists share many common features, but voters for technocratic populists have few commonalities aside from higher levels of trust in political institutions.…”

“…Piquer and Jäger (2020) see the cartelization of party systems as a driving factor for the rise of intra-and extra-party techno-populist logic, focusing on the UK and Spain. Snegovaya (2020) compares voter attitudes in France and the Czech Republic. Buštíková and Baboš (2020) explore governance during the Covid-19 pandemic in Czechia and Slovakia.…”

Authentic Expertise: Andrej Babiš and the Technocratic Populist Performance During the COVID-19 Crisis

“…Recent years have witnessed a rise in studies focusing on technocratic populism as a distinct variant of populism (e.g., de la Torre 2013; Buštíková and Guasti, 2019;Castaldo & Verzichelli 2020;Perottino & Guasti 2020;Snegovaya 2020). Guasti and Buštíková (2020, 468), define technocratic (sometimes referred to as managerial (Havlík 2019) or centrist (Havlík & Voda 2018)) populism as an "output-oriented populism that directly links voters to leaders via expertise," wherein leaders present themselves as experts and present a "direct, personalized link" to their people, crossing over traditional left-right divides.…”