Capitalising on a crisis? Assessing the impact of Covid-19 on populist parties in western Europe
70 Shares The tendency for citizens to ‘rally round the flag’ during a crisis led many observers to assume the Covid-19 outbreak would be a negative development for the electoral fortunes of populist parties. Yet as Brett Meyer explains, this pattern has been far from uniform across western Europe. Drawing on a new study, he highlights several structural changes brought on by the pandemic which may ultimately play to the strengths of populist politicians. It has become clear that Covid-19 hasn’t been the severe blow to populism that some commentators hadpredicted. And this...