Populism, populists, and the crisis of political parties

The parliamentary elections of 2017 in Germany and Austria as well as the general elections in Italy 2018 have deeply changed the party and government system. The German party Alternative for Germany has been prominently elected into the parliament, the Austrian Freedom Party forms part of the government together with the Austrian People's Party, Italy has its first government of populists with the 5 Stars Movement and the Northern League. Those who seek to understand how these transformations came about in just a short period of time, will find some illuminating answers in this book. Analysis, developments, assessments and trends by renowned historians and political scientists prove that populism in these three countries has a history on which it can successfully build. This includes the crisis of historical parties which have continuously lost their political cohesiveness and trustworthiness.