According to the political scientists Daniel Smilov and Ruzha Smilova, centrist,
left-wing, and
right-wing populism both originate from "
democratic illiberalism". Centrist populists promote
anti-establishment, personalistic, and
anti-corruption views, while also moderately criticising liberal democracy. Despite this, the political scientists Zsolt Enyedi and Martin Mölder wrote that centrist populists do not pose a challenge to liberal democracy. Centrist populists attack the political mainstream while not being subscribed to extremist politics. They do not rely on any political ideologies, instead claiming that they are non-ideological and anti-political, while often emphasising increasing living standards. They also focus on issues such as competence and probity, rather than on socio-economic and socio-cultural political issues. They also tend to be less supportive of the
European Union, and are less
culturally conservative than right-wing populists. They are also less likely to employ
welfare chauvinism in comparison with right-wing populists; they advocate for maintaining the existing welfare system. Centrist populists are considered anti-establishment as they criticise large established political parties, which they perceive to not represent "the will of the people" due to alleged corruption. They additionally reject left- and right-wing ideologies, criticise aspects of liberal democracy such as
separation of powers, independent bodies, and
rule of law, and are sometimes mildly
nationalistic, but they do not reject political pluralism. These positions are considered centrist as they are designed to be appealing to the majority of voters. Political scientists Vlastimil Havlík and Aneta Pinková disputed that centrist populists were nationalistic. Grigore Pop-Eleches also wrote that centrist populists avoid nationalism and
anti-Western and
anti-capitalist positions. In the Czech Republic, centrist populists are also
technocratic; they have argued that experts should run the government or that the government should be based on a business model. In the Central and Eastern Europe, centrist populists have also criticised the
post-communist transition led by liberals. They argue that politics in Central and Eastern Europe will remain non-ideological and that parties would compete over issues such as competence and moral probity. The political scientist Elena Cossu, however, said that criticism of the post-communist transition is rather associated with right-wing populism and that centrist populists rather associate themselves with anti-corruption sentiment.
Similar concepts In an article, the political scientists Sarah Engler, Bartek Pytlas, and Kevin Deegan-Krause used the term "centrist anti-establishment parties" to refer to anti-establishment parties who do not belong to right-wing or left-wing populism. Engler said that therefore parties with a centre-right or centre-left political platform could also be applied the "centrist anti-establishment party" label; the term is similar to centrist populism. She also explained that such parties are known for their anti-establishment and anti-corruption views; they differ from the radical right due to not promoting illiberal democracy,
ethnocentrism, and
social conservatism, and from the far-left due to not being anti-capitalist. They instead promote liberal democracy and the
market economy. The political scientists Seán Hanley and Allan Sikk also defined "anti-establishment reform parties" as a similar concept to centrist populism. They argue that such parties advocate for reforms of the political system, use anti-establishment rhetoric, and are "genuinely new", ie. they are not successors of any parliamentary party. Hanley and Sikk also added that such parties accept liberal democracy and the market economy, whilst not being subscribed to illiberal democracy and anti-capitalism. Another similar concept,
valence populism, was built by the political scientist Mattia Zulianello. He distinguishes valence populism from centrist populism for having unclear positioning on the
left–right political spectrum. Zulianello said that the centrist populism term "refers to the ideological or geometric centre of the party system", while that valence populists promote "non-positional issues" such as anti-corruption, morality, democratic reform, and political transparency. They can also be technocratic. == History ==