Between Policy-oriented Criticism and Structural Opposition – Civil Society Advocacy in the Age of Populism

With the wave of right-wing populist parties coming to power and gaining influence in recent years, civil society has been hit by increased ideological resistance from outside. The paper explores how key civil society actors react to policy changes by national governments influenced by right-wing populist parties. The aim is to understand how the rise to power of right-wing populist parties affect the relations between the state and civil society.

The relation between right-wing populist parties and civil society is often conflictual. A common feature of populist actors is their attempt to create and promote a direct connection between their representatives and the people, rejecting the idea of all intermediary bodies, included civil society. Moreover, right-wing populism is often based on mobilization in civil society and has allies in specific collective actors that share their (thin) ideology, such as conservatism and ethno-nationalism, while most established CSOs have their origin in social movement that are opposing to right-wing actors and their agenda in favour of solidarity, human rights and minoirty rights.

The paper focuses on the way in which main civil society actors in Italy and Sweden have reacted on the latest budget legislation by their national governments. The analysis focuses on the content of the advocacy and the level of conflict/opposition implied in the advocacy: from non-structural opposition to major structural opposition. The paper compares two different national contexts: Italy and Sweden. Both countries are since the fall of 2022 experiencing new government coalitions that include right-wing populist parties. The aim is to understand how the rise to power of right-wing populist parties affects the relations between the State and civil society.