When Anti-Establishment Meets the Establishment: The Impact of Populist Parties on Policy-Making

The economic crisis had a great impact on the political systems of European countries. It facilitated the emergence of new political actors, traditionally named populist, opposing to the elites they consider as responsible for the crises and its consequences for individuals. In many countries, these new movements and parties are elected in Parliaments and, for a few of them, were appointed to the government. They receive much attention from the media placing them in the center of political discussions. However, only a little is known about the concrete impact on democracies. The project aims thus to explore the impact of these new political actors on what is in the core of representative democracy: the decisions made by members of parliaments on behalf of citizens. To phrase it differently, the research project tackles the question of the impact of populist parties on bills that are proposed and voted in the parliaments of three European countries: Finland, France, and Switzerland.