Populism of South and North: Incorporation Vs. Social Defense

Abstract

In a large parte of Western and Central Europe, political parties characterized as «populists» are, or are becoming, major competitors for government power. Given this situation, the article intends, on the one hand, to propose a typology of populist institutional regimes or programs, with emphasis on the common properties of the different types. On the other hand, discuss their generative contexts, and propose two propositions: i) that it is very likely that the configuration of factors conducive to populism will become stable in the North and remain recurrent in the South; and, ii) that the probability of more or less permanent institutionalization of these regimes is greater in the South than in the North, due to the differential robustness of the republican political institutions. Ultimately, both capitalism and democratic political institutions will suffer of strong pressures. As a result, together with innovative forms of open market economy and republican democracy, new kinds of state capitalism and elective authoritarianism will be instituzionalized in many countries. If this hypothesis is correct, populist regimes will therefore be only transitional.