IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsoctx/v15y2025i8p211-d1713126.html

Populist Radical Right: Illiberal Erosion or Liberal Decay? Assessing Theoretical Explanations in the Wake of the 2024 European Parliament Election

Author

Listed:
  • Alfonso A. López-Rodríguez

    (Political Analysis Research Group (Equipo de Investigacións Políticas), Departamento de Ciencia Política e Socioloxía, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Jesus M. Benitez-Baleato

    (Political Analysis Research Group (Equipo de Investigacións Políticas), Departamento de Ciencia Política e Socioloxía, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

Abstract

This article identifies the structural factors underlying the rise of the Populist Radical Right (PRR) in Europe and evaluates its implications for liberal democracies. Our research finds that the emergence of the PRR is driven by the decay of democratic institutions resulting from the neoliberal globalization that was catalyzed by the collapse of the Soviet Union. We argue that the electoral success of the PRR lies in its capacity to use emotionally charged, single-issue narratives that resonate with the political demands of orphaned electorates, who engage in protest voting to express their frustrated expectations. Far from being an ephemeral phenomenon, we show that the PRR reflects structural transformations of the liberal political architecture, and is capable to further eroding democratic institutions by procedurally adopting liberal norms as a means to undermine them. A critical reassessment of the liberal perspective is necessary to address the dysfunctions of democratic institutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Alfonso A. López-Rodríguez & Jesus M. Benitez-Baleato, 2025. "Populist Radical Right: Illiberal Erosion or Liberal Decay? Assessing Theoretical Explanations in the Wake of the 2024 European Parliament Election," Societies, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-16, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:15:y:2025:i:8:p:211-:d:1713126
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/15/8/211/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/15/8/211/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dani Rodrik, 2018. "Populism and the economics of globalization," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 1(1), pages 12-33, June.
    2. Erik Bran Marino & Jesus M. Benitez-Baleato & Ana Sofia Ribeiro, 2024. "The Polarization Loop: How Emotions Drive Propagation of Disinformation in Online Media—The Case of Conspiracy Theories and Extreme Right Movements in Southern Europe," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-24, November.
    3. Cohen, Denis, 2020. "Between strategy and protest: how policy demand, political dissatisfaction and strategic incentives matter for far-right voting," Political Science Research and Methods, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(4), pages 662-676, October.
    4. Inglehart, Ronald, 1971. "The Silent Revolution in Europe: Intergenerational Change in Post-Industrial Societies," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 65(4), pages 991-1017, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Vanschoonbeek, Jakob, 2020. "Divided We Stad: a Fiscal Bargaining Model for Divided Countries," MPRA Paper 101863, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Vigvári, Gábor, 2022. "Transzformáció és a populizmus a visegrádi országokban [Transformation and populism in the V4 countries]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(3), pages 339-366.
    3. Marco Manacorda & Guido Tabellini & Andrea Tesei, 2022. "Mobile internet and the rise of political tribalism in Europe," CEP Discussion Papers dp1877, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    4. Charles Goodhart & Rosa Lastra, 2018. "Populism and Central Bank Independence," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 49-68, February.
    5. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Neil Lee & Cornelius Lipp, 2021. "Golfing with Trump. Social capital, decline, inequality, and the rise of populism in the US," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 14(3), pages 457-481.
    6. Dong Yang, 2025. "The Fractured Metropolis: Optimization Cutoffs, Uneven Congestion, and the Spatial Politics of Globalization," Papers 2512.05163, arXiv.org.
    7. Simon Hartmann & Thomas Lindner & Jakob Müllner & Jonas Puck, 2022. "Beyond the nation-state: Anchoring supranational institutions in international business research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(6), pages 1282-1306, August.
    8. repec:bla:glopol:v:8:y:2017:i:s6:p:78-86 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Tiina Ritvala & Rebecca Piekkari, 2021. "Geopolitics of the knowledge-based economy," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 52(2), pages 334-337, March.
    10. Klaus E. Meyer & Chengguang Li & Andreas P. J. Schotter, 0. "Managing the MNE subsidiary: Advancing a multi-level and dynamic research agenda," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 0, pages 1-39.
    11. Alan Arwine & Lawrence Mayer, 2014. "Tolerance and the Politics of Identity in the European Union," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 95(3), pages 669-681, September.
    12. Victor Ginsburgh & Sergio Perelman & Pierre Pestieau, 2021. "Populism and Social Polarization in European Democracies [Bien-Être et Vote]," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 67(4), pages 371-404.
    13. Barone, Guglielmo & Kreuter, Helena, 2021. "Low-wage import competition and populist backlash: The case of Italy," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    14. Pillich, Sidney Michael, 2025. "Unveiling de-globalization and its management strategies: A case study of the German automotive industry," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 31(4).
    15. Arnstein Aassve & Letizia Mencarini & Elena Pirani & Daniele Vignoli, 2023. "The last bastion is falling: Survey evidence of the new demographic reality in Italy," Econometrics Working Papers Archive 2023_04, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Statistica, Informatica, Applicazioni "G. Parenti".
    16. repec:irs:cepswp:2024-01 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Malte Petersen & Monika Keller & Jürgen Weibler & Wasilios Hariskos, 2019. "Business education: Does a focus on prosocial values increase students’ pro-social behavior?," Mind & Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, Springer;Fondazione Rosselli, vol. 18(2), pages 181-190, December.
    18. Grant Mills & Simon Austin & Derek Thomson & Hannah Devine-Wright, 2009. "Applying a Universal Content and Structure of Values in Construction Management," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 90(4), pages 473-501, December.
    19. Bruce Tranter, 2015. "The Impact of Political Context on the Measurement of Postmaterial Values," SAGE Open, , vol. 5(2), pages 21582440155, June.
    20. Simona Iammarino, 2018. "FDI and regional development policy," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 1(3), pages 157-183, December.
    21. Andreas Bergh & Anders Kärnä, 2022. "Correction to: Globalization and populism in Europe," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 192(1), pages 193-199, July.
    22. Karakas, Leyla D. & Mitra, Devashish, 2020. "Inequality, redistribution and the rise of outsider candidates," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 1-16.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:15:y:2025:i:8:p:211-:d:1713126. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask MDPI Indexing Manager to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.