Populism in eight West European countries since the 1970s

This chapter presents the results of the content analysis. It illustrates the trend for the presence of populism in party manifestos in eight European countries from the 1970s to now. Moreover, it disentangles left- and right-wing variants of populism. Finally, it describes each country in detail, explaining which party manifestos articulate populist discourses, and discussing whether the findings are in line with the literature on the topic. The evolution of levels of populism in party manifestos brings forth several considerations. First: the last elections feature unprecedented levels of populism. Second: it is not only since the 1990s that populism started growing, but high levels were present in the 1970s as well. Third, the manifestos of left-wing parties average higher levels of populism compared to those of right-wing parties. Finally, while populism is increasingly present in party manifestos, its social acceptability did not rise particularly over time.