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Sovereignism is at the crux of the current wave of radical right-wing populism (RRP), and a significant factor of electoral support for such parties. While sovereignism may concern different dimensions, claims by RRP parties and leaders to regain sovereignty are increasingly associated with socioeconomic issues such as welfare, redistribution and international trade. Reclaiming national sovereignty is seen as a mean to restore the people’s economic prosperity. Adopting a demand-side perspective, this article aims to investigate the intersection between economic sovereignism, economic populism and globalization attitudes in RRP politics. We do so by looking comparatively at citizens’ attitudes across four West-European countries and the United States. Our findings suggest different configurations of such attitudes across both sides of the Atlantic.

International audience; Taking a demand-side perspective based on the analysis of citizens’ and voters’ attitudes, this chapter focuses on the relationship between socio-economic anxieties related to the Covid-19 pandemic and support for right-wing populism. We use an original survey of national representative samples in Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland and the United States, and examine, on the one hand, the socio-demographic and attitudinal determinants of socio-economic concerns related to the coronavirus and, on the other hand, the effect of these concerns on populist voting. As suggested by recent literature on populism and coronavirus, we anticipate that this effect should be heterogeneous and should vary across different socioeconomic groups. Moreover, we expect the effect of Covid-19 related socioeconomic anxieties to be conditioned by the status of the populist party, in particular, whether in government or in opposition.

International audience; Sovereignism is at the crux of the current wave of radical right-wing populism (RRP). Populist parties advocate ‘taking back control’ from the political establishment, supranational institutions and global forces and they typically do so in the name of the ‘people’. While sovereignism may concern different dimensions, claims by RRPs to regain sovereignty are often associated with socioeconomic issues such as welfare, redistribution and international trade. The article aims to investigate the intersection between populism and sovereignism in RRP politics, and how voter demands for popular and national sovereignties may be articulated with one another to express the idea of regaining control of the country as a means of recovering economic prosperity. Based on an original cross-national survey conducted in four West European countries – France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland – and the United States, this contribution proposes to examine populist sovereignist attitudes among citizens and parties across different socioeconomic contexts and polities.

International audience; While there is a consensus that European populist radical right parties typically mobilize on cultural issues and political grievances, in particular as regards opposition to immigration and to European integration, the socio-economic dimension of radical right-wing politics has been somewhat overlooked until recently. In contrast, this paper suggests that the socio-economic dimension is an important facet of electoral mobilization by right-wing populist actors and therefore should be given further consideration. The paper argues that radical right-wing populist parties mobilize on a mix of economic populism and sovereigntism –that is essentially a fight for the economic well-being and sovereignty of the national community, primarily addressing the needs and interests of the nation’s producers as ‘true’ beneficiaries of national welfare–, and that their claims strongly resonate with voters across West-European countries. To test the heuristic interest of this perspective, we conduct a demand and supply-side comparative analysis of two established populist radical right parties, the French Rassemblement National (RN, formerly Front National, FN) and the Swiss People’s Party (SVP). We first examine how economic populist sovereigntist claims are constructed by our two parties of interest, looking at their election manifestos and leaders’ speeches. We then turn to the analysis of voter attitudes and preferences, asking to which extent the supply of economic populist sovereigntism by the RN and SVP matches electoral demands and preferences among national electorates.

International audience; Sovereignism is at the crux of the current wave of radical right-wing populism (RRP). Populist parties and leaders advocate ‘taking back control’ at the national level, and they generally do so in the name of the ‘people’. Building on previous work, we focus on economic issues and explore the interconnection between populism and sovereignism in voter attitudes in Western Europe. Using an original data set from a survey among ordinary citizens of two countries, France and Switzerland, we address the voters’ attitudes of relevant RRP, that is the Rassemblement national (RN, formerly Front National) and the Swiss People’s party (SVP). Our results show that economic populist sovereignism represents a specific attitudinal dimension among Swiss and French voters, and that it is a significant factor of electoral support for the RN and the SVP, along with other important correlates of RRP voting such as welfare-chauvinism. We also find that economic populism sovereignism does simply not reflect attitudes towards economic globalization.

International audience; While arguing that socio-economic issues are secondary to the populist radical right ideology, authors such as Mudde (2007) argue also that “for the populist radical right the economy should always be at the service of the nation” and that these parties “defend a nativist economic program based upon economic nationalism and welfare chauvinism” (p.137). In this paper, we argue that the economic supply of RRPP is essentially a fight for the well-being of the national community, which mixes ‘economic populism’ and ‘economic sovereigntism’. Economic populism refers to the idea that the ‘true’ people’s economic well-being has been ignored or betrayed by the ‘corrupt’ elite and that it should be re-established. Economic sovereigntism is seen as a means of restoring the people’s well-being and the nation’s prosperity. Sovereigntism claims that the nation-state should re-assert its sovereign authority and exclusive control over laws and international interactions, while rejecting supranational influence. We conduct a qualitative comparative analysis of two established West-European populist radical right parties, the French Front national (FN) and the Swiss people’s party (SVP). Adopting a most different systems approach, we propose a fine-grained analysis of those two parties’ electoral manifestos and economic strategies. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings for the broader understanding of RRPP supply in political economy.