Abstract
Populism has in recent years become one of the key concepts of politics. Especially the European Parliament election in May 2014 was a turning point, after which the populism has become a real social phenomenon.
To understand the success of populists in these elections, it is necessary to look into previous events, particularly to examine the relationship between the recent economic crisis and populist behaviour during its course. Individual case studies have also shown that long-acting structural factors played in many ways more important role than the actual economic crisis and led to three primary consequences - to decreasing turnout, a sharp increase of electoral volatility, and to increased support for populist groups promising simple solutions, not only in solving economic problems, but also other topics such as immigration, the relationship with the EU or moral 'decline' of European society.
The aim of this book was not to bring one and only valid definition of populism and its application, but based on a defined theoretical framework explore comparatively various populisms in chosen case studies (countries), taking in account different historical, political, and socio-economic conditions. Structural factors, of course, vary widely in individual cases, but most often involve a combination of several factors, such as political culture, the role of religion, national identity, economic problems, immigration, electoral system, the level of corruption, and the relationship with the EU and European integration.
In this respect, the publication brings a unique perspective on internal political development in selected countries (not only) during the economic crisis and contributes to the understanding of processes and changes in European society that were brought by the crisis.