ABSTRACT
Up to date, there have been few cross-regional comparative studies on the macro-level causes of populism. There are two main reasons: lack of conceptual agreement, and lack of coherent cross-regional measurement. The ideational approach, and earlier chapters in this volume, for the first time provide a concept that travels well between Europe and the Americas, and has produced measurement of populist discourse and attitudes both at the elite and mass levels. With the dataset created by Hawkins and Castanho Silva on the level of populism in political parties’ campaign material, this chapter uses fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to test the causal explanations proposed by the ideational theory for the success of populist parties. Taking into account also alternative theories, such as economic, mass-society, and institutions, findings indicate that corruption and political representation failures – two contextual conditions proposed by ideational populism – are most strongly associated with populists’ success across countries. These findings are a first confirmation of the ideational theory at the macro-level across 27 countries in two regions.
