A matter of supply and demand: the electoral performance of populist parties in three European countries

This paper assesses the electoral performance of populist parties in three European countries: the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom. In explaining the electoral performance of the populist parties in the three countries, the paper considers the agency of political parties in particular. More specifically, it will assess the responsiveness of established parties and the credibility of the populist parties. Whereas the agency of populist parties, or other radical outsiders, has often been overlooked in previous comparative studies, this paper argues that the credibility of the populist parties themselves plays a crucial role in understanding their electoral success and failure.