Left and right populism compared: The British case

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

This article represents one of the few systematic comparisons of left-wing populism with other populisms. Focussing on the manifestos of six British parties in 1999–2015, the findings confirm that left-wing populists are more socio-economically focussed, more inclusionary but less populist than right-wing populists. The article makes four main substantive contributions. First, empirically, it shows that the much-touted populist Zeitgeist in the United Kingdom barely exists. Second, methodologically, it provides a nuanced disaggregated populism scale that has advantages over existing methods because it can effectively distinguish populist from non-populist parties and analyse degrees of populism. Third, theoretically, it shows that host ideology is more important than populism per se in explaining differences between left and right populisms. Fourth is a broader theoretical point: what is often called ‘thin’ or ‘mainstream’ populism’ is not populism but demoticism (closeness to ordinary people). Therefore, analysts should not label parties ‘populist’ just because their rhetoric is demotic.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)282-303
JournalBritish Journal of Politics and International Relations
Volume19
Issue number2
Early online date31 Mar 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2017

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • Britain
  • political parties
  • populism
  • radical left
  • radical right
  • socialism

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Left and right populism compared: The British case'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this