Populism, Party Systems, and Electoral Rules: Unpacking the Unexpected Alignment of Nativism and the Left in Emerging Democracies

Mehrez et al. (2023) find that in Tunisia, nativist voters are more likely to support left-wing parties, contrary to trends in Western Europe. This project would extend their three-dimensional model to other emerging democracies, probing how PR versus majoritarian systems mediate the relationship between populist/nativist attitudes and party choice. This not only deepens our understanding of populism’s context-dependency but also challenges the assumed universality of party cleavage structures. By integrating public opinion, party manifestos, and institutional data, the research could reveal how new party systems and electoral rules interact with local ideological landscapes, offering a much-needed corrective to Eurocentric models.

References:

1. Introducing the comparative study of electoral systems in Tunisia: populist attitudes, political preferences, and voting behavior. Ameni Mehrez, L. Littvay, Youssef Meddeb, Bojan Todosijević, Carsten Schneider (2023). Mediterranean Politics.