National Identity and Anti-elitism: Examining the Demand Side of Populism

Abstract

The rise of populism is a central theme of our present era. To understand it, we need to look at the possible ‘triggers’ that have caused this rise. This paper examines the triggers of populist attitudes among the populations of Eastern and Western Europe. I use the post-election nationality-representative survey conducted by Comparative Study of Electoral System (CSES) dataset Module 5 from 2021. The research uses an ordinary least squares (OLS) multivariate regression model to examine the effect of national identity, distrust in politicians, and acceptance of abuse of the law by leaders on populist attitudes across the EU. The findings suggest that populism in both Eastern and Western Europe is significantly affected by the lack of trust in politicians, especially in Eastern Europe. Although the research hypothesis states that national identity would have a bigger influence on the rise of populism in post-communist Eastern Europe, it appeared not to be the case. The acceptance of abuse of the law by leaders had more impact in Eastern Europe, while national identity played a more important role  in Western Europe. Despite little heteroscedasticity in the OLS regression models, the results are statistically significant.