The electoral success of the Movimento 5 Stelle: An example of a left populist vote?

Abstract

Das Movimento 5 Stelle wird oft als Beispiel herangezogen für den europäischen Trend eines schnell wachsenden Erfolges populistischer Parteien. In diesem Artikel werden, in einer vergleichenden Studie anhand des European Social Survey von 2012, die Gründe untersucht aus welchen sich die Wähler de Movimento für diese Partei entschieden haben. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Wähler des Movimento, im Gegensatz zur Wählerschaft anderer populistischer Parteien in Europa, nicht durch Fremdenfeindlichkeit oder durch rechte Ideologien zur Stimmabgabe für das Movimento motiviert werden. Vielmehr treffen Movimento Wähler ihre Wahlentscheidung auf Grund negativer Bewertungen des politischen Systems. Die abschließende Diskussion verknüpft diese Ergebnisse mit den jüngsten politischen Ereignissen in Italien.

Populism and Support for Protectionism: The Relevance of Opposition to Trade Openness for Leftist and Rightist Populist Voting in The Netherlands

“…Our most remarkable finding is that support for protectionism largely serves as an independent driver of voting for a populist party, that is, it is a determinant of voting in addition to both a wide range of socio-demographic factors and the already established attitudinal drivers of populist voting behaviour: economic egalitarianism, ethnocentrism and political distrust. Put differently, in addition to the economic and cultural concerns ( Achterberg and Houtman, 2006 ; Van der Waal et al, 2007 ) and the anti-establishment attitudes ( Hooghe and Oser, 2015 ; Kemmers et al, 2016 ) that pit populist constituencies against non-populist ones, opposition to trade openness matters when it comes to voting for a populist or non-populist party at the ballot box, at least in the present-day Netherlands. Our finding that views on free trade currently play a largely independent electoral role suggests that support for protectionism among the electorate is politicised and shaped by cues from populist party elites.…”

“…The Dutch leftist populist party is in competition for the electorate with its right-wing counterpart on more grounds than previously assumed. Along with their shared political distrust ( Hooghe et al, 2011 ; Hooghe and Oser, 2015 ; Kemmers et al, 2016 ) and Euroscepticism (compare De Vries and Edwards, 2009 ; Halikiopoulou et al, 2012 ; Van Elsas and van der Brug, 2014 ), they also have opposition to trade openness in common. During elections in which anti-establishment sentiments, the role of the EU and trade issues are salient, the SP and PVV are therefore likely to compete for the same segment of the electorate.…”

“…More specifically, it may be motivated by their distrust of political institutions like the government and parliament, as well as those that populate them, namely politicians ( Hooghe et al, 2011 ; Kaina, 2008 ; Van der Meer, 2010 ). This political distrust is characteristic of the constituencies of both leftist and rightist populist parties ( Hooghe et al, 2011 ; Hooghe and Oser, 2015 ; Kemmers et al, 2016 ). As a result, support for protectionism among supporters of these parties might be high because they conceive free international trade to be a project of untrustworthy political elites.…”

“…More specifically, since opposition to free trade is part of a more encompassing resistance to perceived infringements of national culture and may reflect a sense of national superiority ( Mansfield and Mutz, 2009 ; Margalit, 2012 ; Mutz and Kim, in press ; Van der Waal and De Koster, 2015 ), support for protectionism may be part of the link between ethnocentrism and nationalism on the one hand and support for right-wing populist parties on the other. Additionally, if trade associations and partnerships such as NAFTA and TTIP are considered to be projects of ‘corrupt political elites’ beyond the control of the common man ( Kaina, 2008 ; Mudde, 2004 ), support for protectionism might be part of the well-established link between political distrust and support for both leftist and rightist populist parties ( Hooghe and Oser, 2015 ; Hooghe et al, 2011 ; Kemmers et al, 2016 ).…”

Democratic ideals and levels of political participation: The role of political and social conceptualisations of democracy

“…This question, furthermore, has become more salient given the increasing challenges to the legitimacy of European political systems since the economic crisis that began in 2008 (Cordero and Simón, 2016; Streeck and Schäfer, 2013). In various European countries, citizens have taken to the streets to protest against austerity politics (Morlino and Quaranta, 2016; Quaranta, 2016) and populist challenger parties have systematically increased their vote share in recent elections (Bermeo and Bartels, 2014; Hooghe and Oser, 2015; Kern et al, 2015; Peterson et al, 2015; Rüdig and Karyotis, 2014; Sloam, 2014). One plausible conclusion from these trends is that policies to alleviate social and economic hardship are considered important elements of citizens’ conception of ideal democracy, at least for a specific portion of the population.…”