<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">This article scrutinizes the position and the role of the party leader in two populist parties in Belgium: Vlaams Belang (VB) and Partij van de Arbeid — Parti du Travail de Belgique (PVDA-PTB). Following Mudde’s definition, populism is understood as a people-centered and anti-elitist ideology. The article argues that, if one accepts the notion that parties will organize themselves in line with their ideological beliefs, then one should expect populist parties to exhibit three main characteristics: leaders are directly elected by the party members, they have extensive powers with only minimal intra-party institutional checks, and they feature strongly in electoral campaigns. Applying this argument to the two Belgian populist parties, the article finds only limited evidence for the argument that populist parties mirror their ideology in the role and position of their party leader.</abstract>

Populist Party Leaders in Belgium: an Analysis of VB AND PVDA-PTB

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Are right-wing populist parties fundamentally different from other types? This article explores one aspect of what we call the exceptionalist thesis. The thesis could be applied to a wide range of party characteristics, but here we focus on leadership. In this context, our case study is of the Sweden Democrats (SD). First, we examine how SD selects its leader. Second, we assess how leadership works in practice in SD, especially regarding party management. We also review how this leadership style has gone down with voters. We mix our own interpretation of these data with other scholars’ assessments. Generally, we find little evidence, at least in this exploratory inquiry, to support the exceptionalist thesis.</abstract>

Right-Wing Populist Party Leadership in Sweden: One of a Kind or one of the Crowd?

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Despite its right-wing populist character, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) shows no signs of a strong party leadership. We ascribe this state of the party leadership to the AfD’s institutionalization as a new party and show how organizational features interact with the skill set and goals of the party leaders. At the party level, we, firstly, outline the organizational change at the top of the party and the party leader selection rules. Secondly, we depict leadership turnover and competitiveness. At the leader level, we investigate the failure of Bernd Lucke, the key founder and one of the initial party leaders, as a manifestation of the leadership-structure dilemma of new parties. Embedded in a leadership team and faced with a growing extra-parliamentary party structure, Lucke tried to secure his initial autonomy and position of power by an attempt to become the sole party leader. His subsequent exit from the AfD laid bare the fact that he was not able to manage the challenges of the organizational consolidation phase, in which a new party needs a coordinator and consensus-builder. The AfD itself has proven its organizational autonomy from its initial leaders and its distaste for a strong and centralized party leadership. The barriers for the latter remain in place while, at the same time, the party institutionalization is still on-going, especially regarding its place in the German party competition.</abstract>

The AfD as a ‚Leaderless’ Right-Wing Populist Party. How the Leadership-Structure Dilemma Left an Imprint on the Party’s Leadership

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The purpose of this article is to show the role played by the party leadership in the Progress Party and the Danish People’s Party in the formation and consolidation of party organization, policy and strategy. The added knowledge provided by this article is an elaboration on one of the successful so-called radical right political parties of this century, namely the Danish People’s Party, and its predecessor, the Progress Party, for the non-Danish speaking audience. Based on a plethora of data sources (interviews, documents, surveys and secondary material), the analysis shows that the differences in how the Progress Party and the Danish People’s Party are organized are much larger than any organizational modifications after the party leader change from Kjærsgaard to Thulesen Dahl. While Kjærsgaard was not able to implement marked organizational changes within the Progress Party, she did stand for a different strategy and policy than Glistrup, focusing on parliamentary influence, and a right-wing position on the new politics dimension, but more pro welfare on the redistributive dimension. There were no substantial changes in organization, strategy or policy when Thulesen Dahl took over the leadership of the Danish People’s Party; however, the strategy prior to the 2019 election did change. In sum, the overall expectation that party organisational change was larger when Kjærsgaard took over from Glistrup in the Progress Party, and in particular when establishing the new Danish People’s Party, than when Thulesen Dahl took over from Kjærsgaard, is mainly supported.</abstract>

Change and Stability. How the Party Leaderships of the Danish Progress Party and Danish People’s Party are Organized

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Several scholars of populism have pointed out that populist parties rely very oft en on so-called charismatic leadership (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="j_ppsr-2019-0005_ref_013_w2aab3b7b5b1b6b1ab1ac13Aa">Canovan, 1981</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="j_ppsr-2019-0005_ref_005_w2aab3b7b5b1b6b1ab1ab5Aa">McDonnell, 2015</xref>). While the rise of populist parties in Europe in the last decade is quite evident and well-studied, what remains understudied is how this phenomenon interacts with other transformations that are currently shaping parties and party systems in European democracies. In particular, what is the interplay between the rise of populism, political leadership and personalization of politics? This link between populism and leadership could be understood in the light of the change occurring within party organizations, and internal party democratization in particular (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="j_ppsr-2019-0005_ref_036_w2aab3b7b5b1b6b1ab1ac36Aa">Musella, 2015</xref>; Pogunkte and Webb, 2007; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="j_ppsr-2019-0005_ref_022_w2aab3b7b5b1b6b1ab1ac22Aa">Karvonen, 2010</xref>; Scarrow et al. 2017). Following these studies underlining a close relationship between populism, leadership and inclusive leadership selection methods, in this paper we aim at empirically exploring how the personalization and democratization of organizational patterns affect the role of the leader in populist parties. To what extent does the use of inclusive selection methods of party leaders within populist parties affect the scope of their organizational power and strengthens the party’s personalization patterns? To explore this research question, we focus on a case study, the Lega Nord (LN) in Italy as an empirical illustration and we rely on original survey data, on aggregated electoral data as well as on primary and secondary data on party organizational rules.</abstract>

When Charisma is no Longer Enough. Insights on Populist Parties’ Leadership from the (Northern) League

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Rarely do twins play active and significant roles in politics. Yet in 2006 President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, designated his twin brother Jarosław to be prime minister. The aim of the current publication is to analyse the political activity of Lech and Jarosław Kaczyński in the context of the founding of PiS and its functioning. Their position inside the party is undisputed. Moreover, as there is no opposition inside the party and Jarosław Kaczyński achieves spectacular electoral results, his legitimisation as autonomous leader of the party is strengthened even further.</abstract>

Twins In Power. Jarosław Kaczyński and Lech Kaczyński as Leaders of Law and Justice

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The aim of this article is to analyse the role and importance of leaders in the Czech populist parties and movements, as well as determining significant factors which condition their institutionalisation. The main focus will be placed on the role of leaders in establishing their respective parties, their formal position and intraparty selection processes in VV, ANO, SPD and ÚPD. Examples of actions taken by the leaders of ANO and SPD show that building populist parties on the foundation of the strong, formal and official position of the leader in their party as well as becoming open to more members prove effective when it comes to the discussed issues...</abstract>

Party Leaders in the Czech Populist Parties and Movements

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">The article discusses conceptualisation of populism, Lithuania’s party system and electoral dynamics and their relation to the sustainability of populist parties. Special attention is given to Party Order and Justice, a former populist and protest party, and its leadership, namely to the issues related to scope and competencies of a leader’s intra-partisan power, leadership selection rules and history, development of leaders’ political careers and their electoral activity. The L ithuanian party system now exhibits moderate fragmentation without centrifugal tendencies. Voter volatility is still relatively high, yet the share of new parties has dropped to zero. The protest and populist parties in Lithuania went into the margins of political establishment. Popularity of the Order and Justice party has long been connected to the formerly impeached president Rolandas Paksas. His long-term leadership in the face of plummeting electoral support and an emphasis on his political martyrdom resulted in poor electoral performances, ensuing internal squabbles and his departure. Party Order and Justice’s internal regulations, however, remained favourable to strong leadership.</abstract>

Populist Parties in Lithuania: Curious Case of Party Order and Justice and its Leadership

<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Political parties in the Baltic states remain largely understudied, especially when it comes to the populist radical right (PRR). Currently, two of the three Baltic countries have PRR parties represented in their national parliaments, <italic>Nacionā lā apvienī ba</italic> (the National Alliance, henceforth the NA) in Latvia and <italic>Eesti Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond</italic> (the Conservative People’s Party of Estonia, henceforth EKRE) in Estonia. Both parties have charismatic leaders and are led in a top-down manner, keeping in line with the literature on this party family. Many political actors in numerous countries make ample use of Twitter and other social media, and the PRR in particular has proved very successful at using social media to their advantage.My article provides a comparison between the leadership of the two aforementioned parties, using a paired comparison method, highlighting the position of the party leader; how each leader is selected; the political activity of party leaders; the electoral activity of each leader; and, finally, an analysis of how each party leader uses the social media microblogging site, Twitter.The NA and EKRE are similar in that they are both parties which can be categorized in the PRR party family and are nationalist parties in countries which experienced Soviet occupation as well as the policy of Russification. Further, until quite recently1, both have directed nativist policies around language issues and the Russian-speaking population (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="j_ppsr-2019-0009_ref_003_w2aab3b7b9b1b6b1ab1ab3Aa">Auers and Kasekamp 2013</xref>, <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="j_ppsr-2019-0009_ref_049_w2aab3b7b9b1b6b1ab1ac49Aa">Wierenga 2017</xref>). Therefore, the NA and EKRE make for an ideal comparison.2</abstract>

Bauska’s Chairmen: Party Leadership and Twitter Engagement in Estonian and Latvian Populist Far-Right Parties

AHEAD OF PRINT

Volume 11 (2023): Issue 2 (December 2023)

Volume 11 (2023): Issue 1 (June 2023)

Volume 10 (2022): Issue 2 (December 2022)

Volume 10 (2022): Issue 1 (June 2022)

Volume 9 (2021): Issue 2 (December 2021)

Volume 9 (2021): Issue 1 (June 2021)

Volume 8 (2020): Issue 2 (December 2020)

Volume 8 (2020): Issue 1 (June 2020)

Volume 7 (2019): Issue 2 (December 2019)

Volume 7 (2019): Issue 1 (November 2019)

Volume 6 (2018): Issue 2 (December 2018)

Volume 6 (2018): Issue 1 (December 2018)

Volume 5 (2017): Issue 1 (December 2017)

Volume 4 (2016): Issue 1 (December 2016)

Volume 3 (2015): Issue 1 (June 2015)

Volume 2 (2014): Issue 2 (December 2014)

Volume 2 (2014): Issue 1 (June 2014)

Volume 1 (2013): Issue 1 (December 2013)

Polish Political Science Review

The Polish Political Science Review (PPSR), or Polski Przegląd Politologiczny, is an online, peer-reviewed (double-blind review process), open-access journal. All articles are published in English. Once a year, the list of reviewers is published on the website of the PPSR. Issues are released twice a year and are available without charge for all users. In this manner a wide dissemination of all published articles is facilitated. The PPSR is not restricted to the Polish socio-political reality but is aimed at a broad, international readership and collaboration in various areas of political research. The following general domains fall under the scope of the PPSR:   Public Policy　  Comparative Politics　  Political Theory and Political Thought　  International Relations　  Political Communication　  Modern History　  Interdisciplinary Studies　   We invite scholars, researchers, PhD students and professionals to submit their research articles, theoretical papers, case studies and book reviews. Both established academics and researchers in the early stages of their academic careers are welcome. The PPSR is focused on political issues, but interdisciplinary research areas are also accepted.　  Why submit to PPSR?　  The PPSR has an international editorial board consisting of profound scholars and experts in the field of political science.  All articles are subject to a rigorous process of double blind peer-review, and the reviewers are carefully selected in accordance with their declared field of expertise and academic interests. Articles are reviewed by two or three independent reviewers, none of whom may be affiliated or employed at the same institution as the author of the article. The referee affiliation is different from the affiliation of the author. Additionally, the author and referee will not be the co-authors of any scientific work 3 years prior to submitting the paper to PPSR. Preferebly, articles are sent to reviewers from two different countries. All issues of the PPSR are available online (with no charge). Full proofreading and technical support is provided by the PPSR. PPSR ensures highest quality of the reviewing and publishing processes. 　  With open access of the publication, PPSR ensures broad accessibility of the published texts which can be spread, quoted and re-analysed, contributing to the further development of scientific knowledge. The journal collects no fees from either readers or authors. Contributors are not charged for consideration, review or publication of manuscripts　  Polish Political Science review is owned, managed and funded by the Institute of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Wrocław, Poland  Archiving  Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.  Plagiarism Policy  The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process. 