Radical-Left Populism during the Great Recession: Podemos and Its Competition with the Established Radical Left



Ramiro, L and Gomez, R
(2017) Radical-Left Populism during the Great Recession: Podemos and Its Competition with the Established Radical Left. Political Studies, 65 (1 Supp). pp. 108-126.

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Abstract

The 2008 Great Recession has had important political effects. In many countries the political consequences of the economic crisis have manifested by altering electoral behavior, party competition and party systems. These effects have been very visible in some of the countries hardest hit by the crisis, such as Spain. However, the Spanish case stands out as the only one in which a fully newly created radical left populist party, Podemos, has successfully attracted a sizeable support. Additionally, the success of this party is more intriguing given its capacity to overtake the established radical left, IU, and to attract many of their former supporters. This article analyzes what factors explain the support for the new radical left populist party Podemos, identifying the individual-level features that lead to support a new radical left populist party rather than a similar and already established anti-austerity radical left party. As the results show, Podemos supporters neither respond to the conventional description of populist voters, nor to a basic definition of the ‘globalization’ and 2008 Great Recession ‘losers’. A combination of protest, anti-mainstream and relative deprivation elements seem to distinguish them from the established radical left electorate instead.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: political parties, populism, radical left, Spain, electoral behaviour
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 11 Apr 2016 14:05
Last Modified: 16 Dec 2022 02:20
DOI: 10.1177/0032321716647400
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3000242