The Persistence of Populism. The Norwegian Progress Party 1973 – 2009

In the literature on right-wing populist parties it is widely held that supply-side factors are crucial in order to explain these parties' electoral persistence. Yet, beyond stating truisms such as the importance of having a good organization and a great leader, we know very little about what kind of supply-side factors that are likely to facilitate electoral persistence. Based on an intensive, single-case study of the Norwegian Progress Party (FrP), this thesis argues that right-wing populist parties are more likely to persist if they (1) broaden the programmatic appeal, (2) maintain political legitimacy, (3) build an authoritarian mass party structure and (4) are led by mobilizing and, even more importantly, organizationally skillful leaders