2021/08/20 by Philip J. Howe, Edina Szöcsik, Christina Isabel Zuber · 2 citations
Social Sciences · #Electoral Systems and Political Participation #Populism, Right-Wing Movements #Social Policy and Reform Studies
paper · pdf · doi:10.1177/00104140211036033
openalex publication_date 2021/08/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
How do nationalist parties attract votes? This article develops a novel supply-side explanation centered on status, arguing that nationalists succeed by combining group appeals to the nation with policy promises to improve the nation’s political and cultural status and the socio-economic status of its median member. Drawing on several original datasets, this expectation is tested on Imperial Austria in 1907, where multiple nationalist parties competed in first-time mass elections. We find that group appeals to the nation and promises to improve its political and cultural status resonate very well with agricultural workers, whose economic sector was declining, but not with industrial workers, whose sector was on the rise. By contrast, offering social policy helps nationalists among industrial workers, but less clearly so among agricultural workers. This article shows that nationalist mobilization is not a mere distraction from class politics; rather, the politics of nationalism, class, and status are closely intertwined.