Anti-Establishment Politics in Europe: Issue Entrepreneurship, Voting Patterns and Counter-System Strategies of Representation

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The main objective of this project is to explore the patterns, mechanisms and representational role of counter-system discourse behind issue entrepreneurial strategies of right, left and also centre anti-establishment parties (AEPs). The empirical relevance of this focus derives from the observation that across Europe these AEPs not only gain increased mainstream visibility and broaden their electoral appeal, but also diversify the legitimization of their issue supply. They portray themselves not merely as instruments of discontent, but also as viable agents of specific political change. This study hence turns attention to active political agency of anti-establishment parties and the underresearched role of narratives that de- and re-legitimize mainstream politics and representative democracy for the justification of their ideological supply as well as for patterns of anti-establishment vote. What do AEPs actually mean when they demand a different/better democracy? How do these various actors use counter-system claims to diversely legitimize their issue positions? Which role do these narratives play for the mainstreaming issue entrepreneurial strategies of political challengers and the subjective perceptions of anti-establishment representative appeal? To answer these questions, the project uses the interdisciplinary character of comparative party politics and combines perspectives on anti-establishment politics from studies of democratic representation and electoral behaviour with the framing paradigm inherent to studies of political communication and social movements. The central assumption of the project is that by strategically embedding particular counter-system claims within their issue supply, AEPs can modify the positional and valence appeal of their issues. They thus construct a subjective perception of their supply as both a distinctive and viable representational vehicle of political change able to replace established parties and to fix representative democracy. The specific alignment of issues and frames into counter-system entrepreneurial strategies of representation is further believed to serve as a heuristic cue that mediates the sincere or protest character behind motivational motors of anti-establishment vote. The two analytical steps of the proposed single comparative framework combine computer-assisted qualitative frame analysis of AEP discourse in online press and social media with a quantitative analysis of patterns behind anti-establishment vote behaviour. The innovative conceptual focus of the proposed project contributes to both a systematic analytical explanation and a deeper empirical understanding of mainstreaming anti-establishment agency by political challengers, as well as its impact on the character of political representation in European party systems. Exploring AEP counter-system strategies of representation will thus help to better understand challenges facing contemporary representative democracies.