Not just Europeanization, not necessarily populism: potential factors underlying the mobilisation of populism in Ireland and Poland

This paper investigates the possible emergence of populism as a side-effect of the Europeanization of political competition by using a different system of case study analysis and the examples of the Republic of Ireland and Poland. In the case of Ireland, despite the lack of any institutional constraints and over 30 years of participation in European integration, there is no evidence of the emergence of a populist party. By contrast Poland, which has institutional limitations due to parliamentary representation thresholds, has seen the electoral success of a number of parties easily identifiable as populist. The analysis of the impact of the Europeanization of party competition in both cases gives evidence of the relationship with the emergence of populism. However, the two case studies show that the Europeanization of party competition is just part of the explanation for the emergence of populism, and may not necessarily be linked to it. Political culture and the perception of a crisis possibly represent stronger factors. Additionally both studies show that populist rhetoric is not just confined to the fringes but has also become a feature of the mainstream in party politics.