ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Polit. Sci.
Sec. Elections and Representation
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpos.2025.1640976
This article is part of the Research TopicWhat's Going On? European Electoral Change in Historical ContextView all 4 articles
Swimming Against the Populist Tide: Lessons from Central and Eastern Europe
Provisionally accepted
- American University, Washington, DC, United States
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Right-wing populism poses a persistent threat to democratic governance in Central and Eastern Europe, sparking widespread anti-populist mobilization across the region. This study examines why some anti-populist social movements in the Visegrád Four succeed electorally while others do not, using process tracing to analyze variation across comparable political and historical contexts. It identifies three recurring features among the successful cases: sustained mobilization, inclusive framing, and operation within contexts marked by coherent democratic elites. The findings contribute to debates on democratic backsliding and offer valuable insights for scholars, activists, and policymakers seeking to counter right-wing populists holding electoral power.
Keywords: populism & democracy, social movement, elections, democratic backsliding, Central - Eastern Europe, Qualitative interview analysis
Received: 04 Jun 2025; Accepted: 30 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Perevezentseva. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Anastassiya Perevezentseva, American University, Washington, DC, United States
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