Patterns of Opposition to Populist Parties in Multilevel Europe

This chapter analyses data on Initiatives Opposing Populist Parties (IoPPs) targeting Fidesz, Law and Justice, Alternative for Germany, Podemos, Vox, League, Five Star Movement, the Swedish Democrats, and the Danish People’s Party. While populist parties are not necessarily a threat to liberal democracy, the analysis presented shows opposition to populist parties is often framed by themes of democratic defence. However, with the exception of Alternative for Germany, opposition to populist parties principally takes the form of tolerant or ‘normal politics’, rather than intolerant or ‘exclusionary politics’. Public authorities were more likely to use ordinary legal controls than exceptional rights restrictions. Political parties were more likely to use routine tactics of oppositional politics, policy co-optation and cooperative strategies than ostracism. Civil society actors only rarely use coercive confrontation over non-violent adversarialism to demonstrate claims. Social Network Analysis shows that, depending on the case, this pattern of Democratic Defence as ‘Normal Politics’ can involve networks of opponents engaging in confrontational relations with a populist party, as well as cooperative relations between opponents and populist parties. Five country IoPP models were identified: Tolerant Pincer Movement, Differentiated Tolerant Model, Tolerant Political Competition, Polarized Political Competition, and Adapted Militancy.