The populist politics of Euroscepticism in times of crisis: A framework for analysis
| DOI | 10.1177/0263395718770579 |
| Published date | 01 August 2018 |
| Date | 01 August 2018 |
| Subject Matter | Special Issue Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0263395718770579
Politics
2018, Vol. 38(3) 253 –262
© The Author(s) 2018
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DOI: 10.1177/0263395718770579
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The populist politics of
Euroscepticism in times of
crisis: A framework for analysis
Andrea LP Pirro
Scuola Normale Superiore, Italy
Paul Taggart
University of Sussex, UK
Abstract
The European Union has been recently exposed to the multiple shocks of the Great Recession,
the migrant crisis, and Brexit. Populist parties have been, either directly or indirectly, considered
the principal beneficiaries of these crises in light of their Eurosceptic profiles. In this introductory
article, we lay out the conceptual and analytical tools necessary to identify populist Eurosceptic
actors, and systematically tackle the under-explored link between populist Eurosceptic framing
and the unfolding of the different European crises. While we provide a framework to assess
(alleged) changes in the framing of these parties, we also contend that these parties may have
released effects in the political process by conditioning shifts in the positions on Europe of their
mainstream competitors. In doing so, we define a set of possible interactive scenarios.
Keywords
crisis, Euroscepticism, impact, political supply, populism
Received: 8th March 2018; Accepted: 19th March 2018
The European Union (EU) has been exposed to multiple stresses during the past decade.
Virtually, every EU member state has been affected (albeit to varying degree) by the
negative consequences of the economic and financial crisis (the so-called ‘Great
Recession’) that unfolded after 2008. While the actual causes of this crisis are manifold,
its occurrence primarily emphasised the structural limits of the Eurozone as a currency
union without fiscal coordination. Just as the economies of member states were exiting
the most severe phase of the crisis and finally undergoing recovery, a new crisis struck the
Corresponding author:
Andrea LP Pirro, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Scuola Normale Superiore, Palazzo Strozzi,
50123 Firenze, Italy.
Email: andrea.pirro@sns.it
770579POL0010.1177/0263395718770579PoliticsPirro and Taggart
research-article2018
Special Issue Article
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