ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on the comparative dimension, and examines the similarities and disparities between the different electorates. It clarifies the assumptions of the meta-analysis that will be used to assess the importance of different variables for explaining populist party success. The chapter illustrates to what extent the hypotheses are supported for each type of popu-list party and for populist parties in general. It argues that two factors, dissatisfaction with the functioning of democracy and support for referendums, have an impact on all parties. The chapter evaluates the robustness of the findings, and explores that to what extent these factors are unique to populist parties. The populist movements and parties across the globe have been supported by different social groups depending on the context. The chapter also examines the 2006 elections in the Netherlands and the 2009 elections in Belgium and Germany by means of a multinominal logistic regression.