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Even though populist movements typically thrive in political, economic, and/or social crises, the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be difficult for populists across Europe to politicize and mediate. The extent to which populists have been able to capitalize on the pandemic has varied from country to country. This article will examine how European populist movements in three European countries—the United Kingdom, Spain, and Italy—have responded to the pandemic, and how they will likely fare in their upcoming national elections.
Crises usually bode well for populist movements. Populists often mediate and politicise crises for electoral advantage. An example of the political opportunities presented by crises can be observed in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, which was followed by the Eurozone debt crisis in 2011/2012. These economic crises disrupted national economies, as well as national politics across the globe. Populism movements sprang up, specifically right-wing populist parties. Notable examples were the Brexit Party in the United Kingdom and the Tea Party, followed by the election of President Donald Trump in the United States.
More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered political, healthcare, social, and economic crises across the globe. We would therefore expect populist movements to have leveraged the chaos and disorder which has beset national and international governing institutions. However, the extent to which populists have been able to capitalise on the pandemic has varied across countries. This article begins by defining populism according to Cas Mudde’s ideational interpretation of populism. Then, recent populist movements in Italy, Spain, and the UK will be examined in an effort to determine how populism in each country has, or has not, responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. These three countries were chosen for case studies since they were among the European countries to be hit first and worst by the pandemic, especially during the first wave. Therefore, there is considerably more research on the health crises and resulting political dynamics within these countries than there is on countries that have not suffered as severely or were hit by the pandemic later.
