A significant number of voters are turning their backs on traditional parties. The stability of European party systems is being defied by a growing number of (new) radical parties, whose presence in the European Parliament has never been as strong as it is now. Faced with the worst global economic crisis of the last 80 years and with growing socio-economic inequalities, a series of political groups, referred to as populists, have secured almost a quarter of the seats in the European Parliament. This paper aims to highlight some of the reasons why these parties attract so much support and to reach a better understanding, from a comparative perspective, of the profile of these electorates as well as their motivations and aspirations. The analysis is based on the study of microdata (N = 30,064) from the European Election Study 2014 conducted in the EU after the European elections of 2014.

A significant number of European electors are turning their backs on traditional main-stream parties. European party systems are being challenged by an increasing number of (new) radical parties, which defied the Christian-social democrat alternation that has dominated Western European countries for decades. In Spain, a political earthquake started after the 2014 European Parliament election. In the context of the worst global economic crisis in the last 80 years (which in Spain is also a social, political and institutional crisis), a party called Podemos won 7.9% of votes and five MEPs, significantly altering the traditional balance of the Spanish party system. This paper studies the causes of the support received by Podemos on 2014 EP elections, dissects its political strategy and analyses the characteristics of the electorate that made possible the birth of this new party. The analysis, which is illustrated using micro-data of twelve surveys, discloses Podemos political agenda.

La Fundacio Nexe ha encetat una col·leccio de publicacions sobre temes i questions d’interes directe per a la societat valenciana (La politica linguistica al Pais Valencia. Del conflicte a la gestio responsable, de Susanna Pardines i Nathalie Torres, 2011). Es una iniciativa que nomes pel que te d’inhabitual i ambi­ciosa mereix ser saludada molt favorablement i desitjar-li un bon futur, ja que pot contribuir a generar debat i a permetre un coneixement plural de la realitat valenciana. El primer document de la col·leccio es un breu estudi de la politica linguistica valenciana a carrec de les linguistes Nathalie Torres i Susan­na Pardines. Les autores centren l’atencio nomes en alguns aspectes concrets i generals; pero, sobretot, en les questions referides a l’estandard valencia de la llengua, l’AVL i, de manera mes marginal, en les politiques dutes a terme per la Generalitat Valenciana des de 1983. La primera part de l’article es una referencia comentada sobre el contingut del llibre, les parts, principals aportacions, limitacions i ques­tions obertes al debat. La segona es una serie de reflexions sobre quatre questions que es deriven del llibre: en primer lloc, la necessitat de distingir entre politica sobre la llengua i politica linguistica; pero tambe el problema de l’estandard valencia i el valor de l’AVL i el seu sentit com a institucio; una con­sideracio sobre les politiques linguistiques del PSPV-PSOE i el PP; i, finalment, una aportacio a quines haurien de ser les politiques linguistiques per a superar el conflicte linguistic valencia que, en molts as­pectes, es basicament politic.