Resumen de Populism and parliamentary opposition parties: the Economic Freedom Fighters party behaviour in the South African parliament

Ainara Mancebo

• In the midst of varying crises, South Africa has experienced a rise of populism inthe last decade. New incomers have arrived in the electoral arena, presentingnew challenges to the ruling party, African National Congress, with theremarkable electoral success of the Economic Freedom Fighters party, whichhas become the third largest party in parliament. At its core this articlerepresents empirical research about the impact of populism on emergentdemocracies that focuses on what populists do, instead of what populistssay. Addressing the question of whether the populist parties behavedifferently from other political parties in opposition at Parliament. It presentsa preliminary analysis that takes into account the actual behaviour ofpopulist and non-populist parties in the legislative institutions. The casestudy uses two dimensions from party behaviour literature, policy makingand scrutiny strategy, in order to address this question and shed light uponpopulist politics in legislative institutions.