Cookies?
Library Header Image
LSE Research Online LSE Library Services

Political entrepreneurs: the rise of challenger parties in Europe

de Vries, Catherine E. and Hobolt, Sara (2020) Political entrepreneurs: the rise of challenger parties in Europe. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ. ISBN 9780691194752

Full text not available from this repository.

Identification Number: 10.1515/9780691206547

Abstract

Challenger parties are on the rise in Europe, exemplified by the likes of Podemos in Spain, the National Rally in France, the Alternative for Germany, or the Brexit Party in Great Britain. Like disruptive entrepreneurs, these parties offer new policies and defy the dominance of established party brands. In the face of these challenges and a more volatile electorate, mainstream parties are losing their grip on power. In this book, Catherine De Vries and Sara Hobolt explore why some challenger parties are so successful and what mainstream parties can do to confront these political entrepreneurs. Drawing analogies with how firms compete, De Vries and Hobolt demonstrate that political change is as much about the ability of challenger parties to innovate as it is about the inability of dominant parties to respond. Challenger parties employ two types of innovation to break established party dominance: they mobilize new issues, such as immigration, the environment, and Euroscepticism, and they employ antiestablishment rhetoric to undermine mainstream party appeal. Unencumbered by government experience, challenger parties adapt more quickly to shifting voter tastes and harness voter disenchantment. Delving into strategies of dominance versus innovation, the authors explain why European party systems have remained stable for decades, but also why they are now increasingly under strain. As challenger parties continue to seek to disrupt the existing order, Political Entrepreneurs shows that their ascendency fundamentally alters government stability and democratic politics.

Item Type: Book
Official URL: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/978069...
Additional Information: © 2020 Princeton University Press
Divisions: Government
Subjects: J Political Science > JN Political institutions (Europe)
J Political Science > JC Political theory
H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor
Date Deposited: 05 Dec 2019 15:30
Last Modified: 15 Sep 2023 22:31
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/102802

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item