As populism in Europe is on the rise there are two sides of populism contesting to make an impact on their societies. In connection with existing research, this study is focusing on the most prominent left-wing populist party in Spain, Podemos, and the  most prominent right-wing populist party in Italy, Lega Nord, and examines differences in their voters’ attitudes regarding a couple of crucial indicators of populism. The study is influenced by a previous study that examined the attitudes of left-wing and right-wing voters. The main distinction between this previous study and the current one is that my study also includes voters from the Spanish left-wing party Podemos, which was not included in the previous research. The result of my study show that Podemos voters are more positive towards the EU and towards immigration in difference to Lega Nord voters, whereas they have comparable attitudes towards material deprivation and elitism.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the phenomenon of populism in Sweden among the Sweden Democrats and the Left Party, as well as their youth unions young Swedes and young left. The study applies the tool VDP analysis in which it is used as an instrument on the parties and their youth unions to identify ideas that mainly constitute their policy. To define populism, one uses Cas Mudde's definition as well as the four subtypes of populism: Complete populism, Exclucionary populism, Anti-elitist populism and Empty populism. The criteria for the different subtypes are tested with the help of the information from the VDP analyzes in order to apply a subtype and to identify differences between moderators and youth associations. The study shows that the Sweden Democrats' survey criteria for complete populism are similar to their youth union. The Left Party and the Young Left result is in criteria for anti-elitist populism. The study also shows that parties and youth unions do not differ in populist subtypes, but youth unions tend to stand out more in their policies compared to their parent parties. / Studies syfte är att undersöka fenomenet populism i Sverige hos Sverigedemokraterna och Vänsterpartiet, samt deras ungdomsförbund Ungsvenskarna och Ung Vänster. Studien tillämpar verktyget VDP-analys som används som ett instrument på partierna och deras ungdomsförbund för att identifiera de idéer som huvudsakligen utgör deras politik. För att definiera populism använder sig studien av Cas Muddes definition samt de fyra subtyperna tunn-centrerad populism, anti-elitistisk populism, exkluderande populism och fullständig populism. Kriterierna för de olika subtyperna prövas med hjälp av informationen från VDP-analyserna för att dels applicera en subtyp, dels för att identifiera skillnader mellan moderparti och ungdomsförbund. Studien visar att Sverigedemokraterna uppfyller kriterierna för fullständig populism likt deras ungdomsförbund. Vänsterpartiet och Ung Vänster uppfyller kriterierna för anti-elitistisk populism. Studien visar också att partierna och ungdomsförbunden inte skiljer sig i populistisk subtyp men ungdomsförbunden tenderar att sticka ut mer i sin politik jämfört med deras moderpartier.

This is a case study aiming to clarify the potentially outdated focus on the populist features in modern populist parties. By analyzing the right-wing populist party of Fidesz and the left-wing populist party of Syriza the aim is to clarify whether populism as a feature is descriptive enough to illustrate these parties, regardless their ideological stance, or whether ideology should be taken more into account than it tends to do today. To do this, the policies of each party are mapped to distinguish populist similarities, despite their ideological disparity and their differences. The analysis is delimited by the three pillars of civil society: Freedom of Associations, Freedom of Peaceful Assemblies and Freedom of Expression, referred to as the three pillars of civil society. The study shows that the descriptiveness of Fidesz as a right-wing populist party is conformed. However, the policies of Syriza demonstrate a variation of partially right-wing and left-wing populism, but also tendencies of no populism at all in their foreign policies. The descriptiveness of contemporary left-wing populist parties in the case of Syriza is thereby questionable.

The rise of populism is one of the most significant political phenomena of the last decade. Although populism has been studied from various perspectives, especially in recent years, there is still number of unresolved issues related to the phenomenon. One of them is a question of the relation between right-wing and left-wing populist policies. In this context, the thesis deals with the case of the 2017 French presidential election. In this vote, both right- wing populist Marine Le Pen and left-wing populist Jean-Luc Mélenchon achieved extraordinary political success. The thesis examines policy content of the selected thematic areas that the candidates were focusing on during the election campaign. It specifically examines electoral programs and media statements of the candidates as the sources of their policies. The thesis provides an analysis of the policy content of individual candidates, as well as a comparison of the policies in the selected thematic areas. Its main output is a description of the common and different features of the pre-election promises of the two selected populist politicians.