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Political Entrepreneurs: The Rise of Challenger Parties in Europe
How challenger parties, acting as political entrepreneurs, are changing European democracies
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 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.
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 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.
- GenresPolitics
336 pages, Hardcover
Published June 16, 2020
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September 8, 2025Un ensayo magnífico que analiza los nuevos partidos políticos y cómo han irrumpido en la escena europea. Para ello, las autoras desarrollan la teoría del cambio político, inspiradas en la literatura económica sobre organización industrial.
El libro aborda diversos temas como el declive de los partidos tradicionales, la aparición de nuevos competidores, la competición partidista, el papel del discurso político o el comportamiento electoral. Sin duda, es el típico libro que recomendaría a cualquiera que disfrute leyendo (en inglés) sobre sistemas de partidos políticos en Europa, el uso del discurso político o la ciencia política en general. (9/10)
El libro aborda diversos temas como el declive de los partidos tradicionales, la aparición de nuevos competidores, la competición partidista, el papel del discurso político o el comportamiento electoral. Sin duda, es el típico libro que recomendaría a cualquiera que disfrute leyendo (en inglés) sobre sistemas de partidos políticos en Europa, el uso del discurso político o la ciencia política en general. (9/10)
January 2, 2023
Cringey in its overuse of heuristics of competition economics (think, introduction opening with quotes from Hegel and a business consultant). Concise and illuminating in its analysis of political innovation and party competition in Europe.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews