THE RISE AND FALL OF PIRATE POLITICAL PARTIES Abstract This paper was created as an aspiration to view the pirate movement as a predecessor and herald of the anti-establishment wave that followed on the political scenes of Western liberal democracies in the mid-2010s. Based on a brief history of pirate parties in the four countries that were considered relevant to the development of the pirate movement, it was determined that in each of them there was a sharp increase in the popularity of pirate parties, which was soon followed by an equally rapid decline in the number of votes for the pirates. The reasons for this established rule among pirate parties were sought in the very ideology of the pirate movement, as well as in the nature of the support that derived from it. Namely, the pirate movement is seen as a new social movement, whose supporters are young, urban and rebellious people. Such an unstable body politic, prone to abstention, is characterised by getting quickly and massively enthusiastic about a certain political option. However, it even faster gets massively disappointed and stops voting again or redirects the votes to other options, which inspire a new sensation and enthusiasm. Another reason for the rapid growth and decline of the pirates' popularity was found in the overlap of the

This paper was created as an aspiration to view the pirate movement as a predecessor and herald of the anti-establishment wave that followed on the political scenes of Western liberal democracies in the mid-2010s. Based on a brief history of pirate parties in the four countries that were considered relevant to the development of the pirate movement, it was determined that in each of them there was a sharp increase in the popularity of pirate parties, which was soon followed by an equally rapid decline in the number of votes for the pirates. The reasons for this established rule among pirate parties were sought in the very ideology of the pirate movement, as well as in the nature of the support that derived from it. Namely, the pirate movement is seen as a new social movement, whose supporters are young, urban and rebellious people. Such an unstable body politic, prone to abstention, is characterised by getting quickly and massively enthusiastic about a certain political option. However, it even faster gets massively disappointed and stops voting again or redirects the votes to other options, which inspire a new sensation and enthusiasm. Another reason for the rapid growth and decline of the pirates' popularity was found in the overlap of the overlap of the ideas of the pirate movement with the ideas of the green parties, which resulted in the fact that these parties were fighting each other for the same or similar electorate. Hence, the pirates in some countries took advantage of the slight fall in support of the green parties. In the long run, however, it has been an unequal struggle, due to the established and branched party structure of the environmental parties, which, unlike inexperienced pirates, represented a relevant factor on the political stages of many European countries for several decades.