Right-wing and left-wing populism in the 2017 French presidential election

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