Contemporary populism in Central and Eastern Europe

This chapter discusses the phenomenon of populist politics in Central and Eastern Europe by addressing three questions: (1) What is the nature of populism in Central and Eastern Europe?; (2) When have populist parties emerged in the region and what explains this rise?; (3) How do individual countries compare with regard to populist politics? Central and Eastern European populism can be considered distinct from that in Western Europe, typified by religious conservatism, nationalist memory politics and an ambiguous form of Euroscepticism. Such parties grew strongly since 2000 and entered government in some countries. Its distinctiveness stems from the region’s particular (post-)communist past. Populism is thus often seen as a symptom of imperfect democratization, neoliberal economic reforms or corruption in politics. At the same time, the distinctiveness of Central and Eastern European populism should not be overstated, as it shares many ideological features with populism in Western Europe, such as nationalism, islamophobia, Euroscepticism and anti-liberalism. Populist parties moreover display great variation within the region - both in nature and in electoral strength. We propose that analyses of populist politics should devote greater attention to country-specific factors and employ region-wide explanations with caution.