Blame avoidance behaviour (BAB) has become an increasingly popular topic in political
science. However, the preconditions of BAB, its presence and consequences in various …

The return of austerity has provoked social conflict, political controversy and academic
disputes. In this article we explore some of these through the metaphor of an 'alchemy of …

Because they are now members of most Western European parliaments, Populist Radical
Right Parties (PRRPs) have the potential to influence the formulation of socio-economic …

While there are some signs of revitalization, social democracy has witnessed a deep
electoral crisis over the last decades. The causes for the decline of social democratic parties …

Mainstream parties in Western Europe are increasingly struggling to hold together their base
of support. As a lens for exploring this changing electoral landscape, this article focuses on …

This article analyses the margin of manoeuvre of Portuguese executives after the onset of
the sovereign debt crisis in 2010–2015. To obtain a full understanding of what happened …

Governments have great difficulties designing politically sustainable responses to rising
public debt. These difficulties are grounded in a limited understanding of the popular …

The 21st century is the age of" neo-liberalism"–a time when the free market is spreading to
all areas of economic, political and social life. Yet how is this changing our individual and …

Drawing on an analysis of austerity reforms in Greece and Portugal during the sovereign
debt crisis from 2009 onwards, we show how the nature of the linkages between parties and …

This article analyses the impact of populist right-wing parties (PRWPs) on welfare state
reforms in Western Europe in the light of the trade-off that they face between office and …