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Young and Temporary: Youth Employment Insecurity and Support for Right-Wing Populist Parties in Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2019

Piotr Zagórski Open the ORCID record for Piotr Zagórski [Opens in a new window] ,
Jose Rama Open the ORCID record for Jose Rama [Opens in a new window]  and
Guillermo Cordero Open the ORCID record for Guillermo Cordero [Opens in a new window]
Piotr Zagórski*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science and International Relations, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Jose Rama
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science and International Relations, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Guillermo Cordero
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science and International Relations, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
*
*Corresponding author. Email: piotr.zagorski@predoc.uam.es
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Abstract

The recent success of right-wing populist parties (RPPs) in Europe has given rise to different explanations. Economic factors have proven to be significant mainly at the aggregate level. As for the individual level, it has been argued that the so-called ‘losers of globalization’ – the less educated and less skilled, profiles with higher job insecurity – are more likely to support RPPs. Nevertheless, RPPs perform strikingly well in countries less affected by the Great Recession, gathering high levels of support among profiles not considered the losers of globalization. Moreover, the effect of age on support for RPPs is not clear, as, on the one hand, the young are better educated and skilled, but, on the other, they suffered the effects of the economic crisis more. To address this puzzle, we focus on the impact of unemployment and employment insecurity among the youth on voting for RPPs in 17 European countries. We find that youth support for RPPs can be explained by the precariousness of the youth labour market.

Keywords

populismemployment insecurityyouthright-wing populist partiesEuropevoting behaviour
Type
Article
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 56 , Issue 3 , July 2021 , pp. 405 - 426
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2019. Published by Government and Opposition Limited and Cambridge University Press

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