Political Entrepreneurs

The Rise of Challenger Parties in Europe

Bibliographic Data

ID24269693
AuthorsCatherine E De Vries (0000-0002-3824-4284), Sara B Hobolt (0000-0002-9742-9502)
Year2020
Publication date2020-06-16
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenuePolitical Entrepreneurs (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherPrinceton University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.23943/princeton/9780691194752.001.0001
ISBN9780691194752
LanguageEN
Citations received34

Challenger parties are on the rise in Europe, exemplified by the likes of Podemos in Spain, the National Rally in France, the Alternative for Germany, or the Brexit Party in Great Britain. Like disruptive entrepreneurs, these parties offer new policies and defy the dominance of established party brands. In the face of these challenges and a more volatile electorate, mainstream parties are losing their grip on power. This book explores why some challenger parties are so successful and what mainstream parties can do to confront these political entrepreneurs. Drawing analogies with how firms compete, the book demonstrates that political change is as much about the ability of challenger parties to innovate as it is about the inability of dominant parties to respond. Challenger parties employ two types of innovation to break established party dominance: they mobilize new issues, such as immigration, the environment, and Euroscepticism, and they employ antiestablishment rhetoric to undermine mainstream party appeal. Unencumbered by government experience, challenger parties adapt more quickly to shifting voter tastes and harness voter disenchantment. Delving into strategies of dominance versus innovation, the authors explain why European party systems have remained stable for decades, but also why they are now increasingly under strain. As challenger parties continue to seek to disrupt the existing order, the book shows that their ascendency fundamentally alters government stability and democratic politics.

Alternative für Deutschland · anti-establishment rhetoric · Brexit Party · challenger parties · Environmental politics · European party systems · Euroscepticism · government stability · immigration politics · mainstream parties · National Rally · party dominance · Podemos · political entrepreneurs · voter mobilization · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Political Theory and Democracy · Populism, Right-Wing Movements