The politics of place: The geographical foundations of support for Populist Radical Parties in Spain

Abstract

[EN] The central core of this dissertation is, therefore, the rise of PRPs explained in a geographical sense. Using Spain as a case study, it explores geography not only as a tool to identify similarities between PRPs but also as a key factor in explaining their support. Specifically, it analyses how two major geographic phenomena –depopulation and rising rent prices– shape voting behaviour, focusing on the Spanish PRPs. Both Podemos and Vox fit within the broad category of left-wing and right-wing PRPs, respectively (Rooduijn et al., 2023).4 Consequently, and in line with the classification used in this thesis, all radical parties on both sides of the ideological spectrum will be referred to as PRLPs and PRRPs in the following subsections. While the populist dimension may not always be equally applicable –particularly in the case of left-wing parties–this terminology is adopted for the sake of conceptual consistency. The broader debate on the ontological definition of these party families, though relevant, falls beyond the scope of this research and is therefore only addressed insofar as it pertains to the Spanish case.