The Failure of Europe's Mainstream Parties
Abstract
The failure of mainstream political-party competition fueled the rise of populism in Europe. Popular anxieties about immigration, economics, or cultural change are not sufficient to explain the surge in populist support. Mainstream parties on both the center-left and the center-right have failed to represent constituencies, to articulate their needs, and to propose distinct policy solutions. The center-left has abandoned its traditional social-policy commitments, and the center-right has often failed to contain xenophobes and nativists. For voters, these failures validated populist claims that the political status quo amounted to rule by a corrupt, self-serving elite cartel and that only radical solutions could ensure real representation of “the people.”
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By contrast, the rise of polarization in Europe is largely attributed to anti-establishment movements and newly founded populist parties.
“By contrast, the rise of polarization in Europe is largely attributed to anti-establishment movements and newly founded populist parties67,344,345.”
From Cognitive–motivational mechanisms of political polarization in social-communicative contexts (2022) · cites this paper as [345]
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References 11 · Cited by 89
- Authors
- Grzymala-Busse, A.
- Venue
- Journal of Democracy
- Publisher
- Project MUSE
- Published
- 2019
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 35-47
- ISSN
- 1045-5736 (ISSN-L)
- 1086-3214
- OpenAlex
- W2980116980
- Cited by
- 89
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 18 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 4
- FWCI
- 23.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of democracy (publishedVersion)
- Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Populism, Right-Wing Movements
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Electoral Systems and Political Participation
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Theory and Democracy
- Keywords
- mainstream parties, populism, centre-left parties, center-right parties, political representation, immigration anxiety, nativism, social policy, elite capture, European politics
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