Back to the familialist future: the rise of social policy for ruling populist radical right parties in Italy and Poland

This article contributes to the emerging studies of populist radical right parties’ social policies by looking at two cases, Italy and Poland, where such parties have been in office without the constraint of mainstream pro-market coalition partners. The comparison of two cases with different historical/institutional paths and economic conditions shows how important high-visibility, high-expenditure social policies can be for populist radical right parties (PRRPs) once in government. More specifically, the analysis of pension and family policies reveals important parallels in the revamping of familialistic aspects of the welfare state, despite demographic and economic pressures. The findings demonstrate that social policy is more important and less focussed on welfare chauvinism than assumed by the literature on PRRPs. This is explained by PRRPs’ electoral expansion strategy towards more deprived groups, which in countries with a strong conservative Catholic presence is achieved through ideological repertoire expansion towards familialism, which can address both the material and cultural interests of the new electorate.