Arrived in Power, and Yet Still Disgruntled? How Government Inclusion Moderates ‘Protest Voting’ for Far-Right Populist Parties in Europe

Abstract While debates about far-right populism often concentrate on Central and Eastern Europe, research these parties predominantly focuses Western countries. Addressing this remarkable gap, article revisits the ‘protest voting’ explanation for electoral support far right. Using European Social Survey data (2002–16) from 22 countries, we show that political dissatisfaction is a stronger explanatory factor when are in opposition, but less important determinant of they government. Previous findings based Europe – which similarly showed anti-elite hypothesis relevant join government coalitions travel well to post-communist In Hungary Poland, even find voters have become distrustful national institutions than rest electorate. Our conclusion implies context-dependent has limited use understanding successes leaders such as Wilders, Salvini Orbán.