What's Going On? European Electoral Change in Historical Context

Over the last two years we have witnessed major electoral changes in Europe, and more specifically within the European Union. These changes represent significant victories by what are typically referred to as right-wing populist parties, although in some instances it reflects the successes of left-populism. Survey research and recent political developments also suggest the possibility of major electoral shifts in the United States and other Anglo-American democracies. We propose to explore the dynamics of electoral change with the goal of better understanding the reasons for these changes, whether they may represent relatively short- term forces consistent with a "normal politics" model or if these changes may indicate more enduring long-term shifts in the ideological makeup of the European and broader Western political landscape.

Over the last decade or so numerous issues have led to a fracturing of Western politics. The COVID pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and, in Europe, conflict between those seeking "ever closer Union" versus those who believe that the EU should basically be a confederation of sovereign states absent what is viewed as oppressive and bureaucratic overreach by the EU bureaucracy. In the United States the election of Donald trump in 2016, the controversies surrounding the 2020 election, Trump's legal controversies and the phalanx of social and cultural issues, many similar to what has been observed in other democratic polities, have created similar political stress and polarization.

What explains the political shifts we have observed? Italy elected its' most right-wing government in the post-World War II era in 2022. Only weeks ago, the EU Parliamentary elections produced the biggest gains for right-of-center parties (including what have been called the "far right") since the first EU Parliamentary elections in 1979. French politics has shifted right, as evidenced by the gains of the National Rally Party in European Parliament and French Parliamentary elections. Of course, there have been countertrends (the victory of the UK's Labour Party in the July 2024 general election and the success of the centrists in Poland), but nonetheless there has been an undeniable trend toward populism, whether of left or right. Moreover, to what extent do these trends represent a major, enduring political change, as opposed to the normal pendulum shifts in political fortunes?

We aim to recruit scholars in the area of comparative politics to address these questions. Our goal is to have contributors selected by September of 2024, and have articles completed and curated no later than October 2025. This represents a long lead time but would allow for the editors and contributors to address electoral developments in those countries that will likely be holding general elections in 2025 (for example, Australia, Canada and Germany to name a few). An alternative would be to produce two special issues, one that covers events over the next few months and that addresses broader historical and theoretical developments, and a second that would address electoral change a bit further in the future.

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Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Registered Report
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Electoral change, Populist politics, Comparative politics, Political polarization, Political ideologies

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.