Challenger parties are on the rise in Europe exemplified by the likes of Podemos in Spain the
National Rally in France the Alternative for Germany or the Brexit Party in Great Britain.
Like disruptive entrepreneurs these parties offer new policies and defy the dominance of
established party brands. In the face of these challenges and a more volatile electorate
mainstream parties are losing their grip on power. In this book Catherine De Vries and Sara
Hobolt explore why some challenger parties are so successful and what mainstream parties can do
to confront these political entrepreneurs. Drawing analogies with how firms compete De Vries
and Hobolt demonstrate that political change is as much about the ability of challenger parties
to innovate as it is about the inability of dominant parties to respond. Challenger parties
employ two types of innovation to break established party dominance: they mobilize new issues
such as immigration the environment and Euroscepticism and they employ antiestablishment
rhetoric to undermine mainstream party appeal. Unencumbered by government experience
challenger parties adapt more quickly to shifting voter tastes and harness voter
disenchantment. Delving into strategies of dominance versus innovation the authors explain why
European party systems have remained stable for decades but also why they are now increasingly
under strain.
