Riding the Populist Wave: Europe's Mainstream Right in Crisis

·
· Cambridge University Press
Ebook
371
Pages
Ratings and reviews aren’t verified  Learn More

About this ebook

In spite of the fact that Conservative, Christian democratic and Liberal parties continue to play a crucial role in the democratic politics and governance of every Western European country, they are rarely paid the attention they deserve. This cutting-edge comparative collection, combining qualitative case studies with large-N quantitative analysis, reveals a mainstream right squeezed by the need to adapt to both 'the silent revolution' that has seen the spread of postmaterialist, liberal and cosmopolitan values and the backlash against those values – the 'silent counter-revolution' that has brought with it the rise of a myriad far right parties offering populist and nativist answers to many of the continent's thorniest political problems. What explains why some mainstream right parties seem to be coping with that challenge better than others? And does the temptation to ride the populist wave rather than resist it ultimately pose a danger to liberal democracy?

About the author

Tim Bale is an expert on European politics and political parties. He won the UK Political Studies Association's W.J.M. Mackenzie prize for his book The Conservative Party from Thatcher to Cameron (2010) and is a frequent contributor to broadcast, print and social media in both Britain and beyond.

Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser is an expert on populism, who has held visiting appointments at Nuffield College, Sciences Po, the Social Science Research Centre Berlin (WZB) and Uppsala University. He is the co-author of the book Populism. A Very Short Introduction (with Cas Mudde, 2017) which has been translated into more than ten languages.

Rate this ebook

Tell us what you think.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.