The Parliamentary Behavior of Populist Parties: The Spanish Case

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5477/cis/reis.187.65-86

Keywords:

Agenda, Parliament, Political Parties, Podemos, Populism, Vox

Abstract

This paper analyses the behaviour of the populist parties in the Spanish Parliament. This involved examining the type of initiatives
submitted and the voting patterns in the chamber, as well as the themes in the agendas of two parties, Unidas Podemos and Vox,
in the 12th and 14th parliamentary terms. The literature suggests that populist parties engage in defiant and uncooperative behaviour in institutions and proposed differentiated and concentrated parliamentary agendas. However, I argue that this behaviour can be nuanced by contextual, ideological and strategic factors. The analysis suggests that the Spanish populist parties reproduce and amplify pre-existing ideological and territorial divisions in the legislative institution, instead of introducing new logics of conflict (e.g., populism/anti-populism). 

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Akkerman, Tjitske; De Lange, Sarah L. y Rooduijn, Matthijs (eds.) (2016). Radical Right-wing Populist Parties in Western Europe: Into the Mainstream?. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315687988

Borghetto, Enrico (2018). «Challenger Parties in Parliament: The Case of the Italian Five Star Movement». Italian Political Science, 13(3): 19-32.

Boydstun, Amber E.; Bevan, Shaun y Herschel, Thomas F. (2014). «The Importance of Attention Diversity and How to Measure It». The Policy Studies Journal, 42(2): 173-196. doi: 10.1111/psj.12055 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/psj.12055

Canovan, Margaret (2002). Taking Politics to the People: Populism as the Ideology of Democracy. En: Y. Mény y Y. Surel (eds.). Democracies and the Populist Challenge. London: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403920072_2

Cavalieri, Alice y Froio, Caterina (2022). «The Behaviour of Populist Parties in Parliament. The Policy Agendas of Populist and Other Political Parties in the Italian Question Time». Italian Political Science Review / Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica, 52(3): 283-296. doi: 10.1017/ipo.2021.25 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/ipo.2021.25

Chaqués-Bonafont, Laura; Baumgartner, Frank R. y Palau, Anna (2015). Agenda Dynamics in Spain. London: Palgrave. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137328793

Fernández-García, Belén y Valencia-Sáiz, Ángel (2022). «De la calle a las instituciones: la evolución del mensaje populista de Podemos (2014-2019)». Revista de Estudios Políticos, (195): 97-123. doi: 10.18042/cepc/rep.195.04 DOI: https://doi.org/10.18042/cepc/rep.195.04

Fernández-García, Belén y Valencia-Sáiz, Ángel (2023). Populism in Southern Europe. En: C. García-Rivero (ed.). Democracy Fatigue: An Eastern Europe epidemy. Central European University Press. doi: 10.1515/9789633866405-013 DOI: https://doi.org/10.7829/jj.4032512.15

Lewandowsky, Marcel; Schwanholz, Julia; Leonhardt, Christoph y Blätte, Andreas (2022). New Parties, Populism, and Parliamentary Polarization: Evidence from Plenary Debates in the German Bundestag. En: M. Oswald (ed.). The Palgrave Handbook of Populism. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80803-7_37

Louwerse, Tom y Otjes, Simon (2019). «How Populists Wage Opposition: Parliamentary Opposition Behaviour and Populism in Netherlands». Political Studies, 67(2): 479-495. doi: 10.1177/0032321718774717 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0032321718774717

Maatsch, Aleksandra y Miklin, Eric (2021). «Representative Democracy in Danger? The Impact of Populist Parties in Government on the Powers and Practices of National Parliaments». Parliamentary Affairs, 74(4): 761-769. doi: 10.1093/pa/gsab006 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsab006

Meguid, Bonnie M. (2005). «Competition between Unequals: The Role of Mainstream Party Strategy in Niche Party Success». American Political Science Review, 99(3): 347-359. doi: 10.1017/S0003055405051701 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055405051701

Mudde, Cass y Rovira-Kaltwasser, Cristóbal (2012). Populism and (Liberal) Democracy: A Framework for Analysis. En: C. Mudde y C. Rovira Kaltwasser (eds.). Populism in Europe and the Americas: Threat or corrective for democracy. Cambridge University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139152365

Mújica, Alejandro y Sánchez-Cuenca, Ignacio (2006). «Consensus and Parliamentary Opposition: The Case of Spain». Government and Opposition, 41(1): 86-108. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-7053.2006.00172.x

Olivas-Osuna, José J.; Arias-Maldonado, Manuel y Barrio, Astrid (2022). El populismo de Vox y Podemos: análisis multidimensional de dos evoluciones divergentes. En: B. Fernández-García y A. Valencia Sáiz (eds.). En los márgenes de la democracia liberal: Populismo, nacionalismo y radicalismo ideológico en Europa. Granada: Comares.

Otjes, Simon y Louwerse, Tom (2015). «Populists in Parliament: Comparing Left-Wing and Right-Wing Populism in the Netherlands». Political Studies: 63: 60-79. doi: 10.1111/1467-9248.12089 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9248.12089

Palau, Anna L.; Muñoz-Márquez, Luz y Chaqués-Bonafont, Laura (2015). «Government-Opposition Dynamics in Spain under the Pressure of Economic Collapse and the Debt Crisis». The Journal of Legislative Studies, 21(1): 75-95. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13572334.2014.939565

Rooduijn, Matthijs (2019). «State of the Field: How to Study Populism and Adjacent Topics? A Plea for Both More and Less Focus». European Journal of Political Research, 58(1): 362-372. doi: 10.1111/1475-6765.12314 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12314

Schwörer, Jakob; Fernández-García, Belén y Caiani, Manuela (2023). «Challengers or the Establishment? How Populists Talk About Populists». German Politics, 1-25. doi: 10.1080/09644008.2023.2207014 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09644008.2023.2207014

Sigelman, Lee y Buell, Emmett H. (2004). «Avoidance or Engagement? Issue Convergence in U.S. Presidential Campaigns, 1960-2000». American Journal of Political Science, 48(4): 650-661. doi: 10.1111/j.0092-5853.2004.00093.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0092-5853.2004.00093.x

Published

2024-07-01

How to Cite

Fernández-García, B. (2024). The Parliamentary Behavior of Populist Parties: The Spanish Case. Revista Española De Investigaciones Sociológicas, (187), 65–86. https://doi.org/10.5477/cis/reis.187.65-86

Issue

Section

Articles