We review the literature on the rise of identity politics and populism in Europe. Populist
parties have gained large vote shares since the Great Recession of 2008. We observe in
many countries, and even in the European Parliament, a transformation of the main
dimension of politics from the left–right cleavage to a new cleavage opposing the
mainstream parties to populist parties. We examine how this transformation relates to
changes in voter attitudes and the adjustment of political parties to these changes. Two main …