The chain of equivalent demands in the rise of rural neo-populism. Introduction to special issue

Since the referendum on Brexit on June 23, 2016, many observers have highlighted the territorial dimension of the profound political changes that have taken place in Western countries. In every country where citizens have been called to the polls, a significant difference has emerged between urban and rural areas, between large and medium- sized cities, and between the centers and suburbs of the most important cities. Someone brought together all the so- called populist voting areas— rural, medium, and peripheral— under the definition of places left behind (Rodríguez- Pose 2017 ). Others have instead emphasized the fault between city and country, to highlight the decisive role that citizens of rural areas have had in particular in the consensus for various populist parties and leaders (Carrosio 2020 ; Emanuele 2018 ; Marcinkiewicz 2017 ). Rural America was thoroughly investigated to understand which factors have worked in the background and led to such a marked territorial connotation of the vote (Inglehart and Norris 2018 ).