Explaining the Emergence of Entrepreneurial Populism in Austria and the Czech Republic

Our principal research question asks what explains the rise of entrepreneurial populism (EP) in Austria and the Czech Republic. Specifically, we are interested in the motives of voters as to why they find the message of entrepreneurial populists persuasive. This seems puzzling because voters in these countries a) appear to have already a variety of choices that should cover both pro-business and protest motives and b) seem to be rather far from any entrepreneurial agenda as they otherwise indicate clear support for the welfare state and interventionist policies. Moreover, this phenomenon has hitherto been associated with candidate-centered polities (USA) and political systems undergoing substantial political change (Italy in the 90s, Georgia, Thailand, Ukraine, etc.).

By contrast, we focus on two consolidated party democracies, Austria and the Czech Republic. They not only offer recent successful examples of  EP (Team Stronach, Alliance Future Austria, ANO,  Public Affairs, Dawn of Direct Democracy) but are also a good fit in terms of research design: Despite having distinct patterns of party behavior, electoral politics, and political legacies, they coincide in the emergence of what we label entrepreneurial populist formations by this we mean parties that fit the Muddean core definition of "populist" but seem otherwise led by a charismatic business leader claiming that running government will solve persistent national problems.  In contrast to radical populist parties, EP is more centrist, office seeking, and not xenophobic. To test these assumptions, we draw on national election and manifesto data from Austria and the Czech Republic.