Introduction: Populist parties, pluralism and democratic systems in Europe

The introductory chapter re-assesses the relation between populism, pluralism and democracy, outlining the book’s central question that drives the comparative analysis of populist parties in different European countries: When do populist parties turn anti-democratic and when do they remain loyal to the democratic system? This question leads us from the analysis of populist parties back to the democratic context in which they emerge and develop. In this chapter, we discuss the relationship between populism and democracy as a contingent one and we operationalize our key variable, populist parties’ respect for democratic pluralism. We look at the conditions under which populist parties turn from a corrective of democracy to a threat, zooming in on two main factors, party and party system responses and institutional conditions. We lay out the analytical and empirical implications for the case studies, and suggest that well-calibrated institutional responses can serve to socialize populist parties in the democratic party system.