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For most of the immediate post-WWII period, populism had little impact on European politics. Catchall and mass parties on both the left and the right dominated party politics, and populist parties were rare. Since the 1990s, however, populist parties have experienced considerable success, often at the expense of mainstream parties. Populism can be observed in distinctive left, center and right-wing forms, but populist radical right (PRR) parties are the most successful populist parties within the current European context (Mudde, 2007). Electoral success has solidified this party type within the political systems of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Norway and Switzerland (the PRR has averaged 12.0 per cent of the vote in these countries since 1990 in 36 national elections).1 In the process, the PRR has institutionalized its party structures, often creating well-developed party organizations. Moreover, and contrary to earlier predictions, several parties have undergone leadership succession (such as the Norwegian Progress Party, the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), and the French National Front). Unlike the decline in party membership within more established parties (Mair and van Biezen, 2001), PRR membership has increased and in many cases supporters have proven to be loyal (Pedersen, 2006; Schain, 2006; Albertazzi and McDonnell, 2009, 2010, p. 1320; Skenderovic, 2009a, p. 144).
With political success and institutionalization, the PRR has also gained formal political power by participating in coalition governments in Austria, Switzerland and Italy, as well as informal power, by supporting center-right governments in Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands. As a result, academics have begun to investigate the conditions that shape PRR parties' capacity to make the transition from opposition parties to government parties. Some political scientists remain skeptical of PRR parties' ability to successfully make this transition, arguing that populists must remain in opposition if they want to retain a populist identity, or that they must turn into a mainstream political party if they want to be a government party (Taggart, 2000; Mény and Surel, 2002; Heinisch, 2003). More recent research has focused on the extent to which PRR parties such as the Lega Nord (LN) and the Swiss People's Party (SVP) have made the transition to government while remaining true to their radical and populist ideological orientations (Albertazzi and McDonnell, 2005, 2010; Mazzoleni and Skenderovic, 2007; Skenderovic,...