International Populism Research Network

ABOUT THE NETWORK

The International Populism Research Network is based in the Political Theory, History of Ideas and Political Culture section at Kiel University (CAU Kiel). It serves as a platform to facilitate international exchange and initiate publication and research projects on the subject of populism.

The network’s activities are centered on new theoretical, qualitative and quantitative approaches to studying the phenomenon of populism worldwide.

It is open to other social science and humanities disciplines beyond the field of political science, such as sociology, philosophy, cultural, media and literature studies, ethnology, visual studies, performance studies, law and history.

The International Populism Research Network organizes academic events (both in-person and online) at CAU Kiel and in collaboration with partner institutes. These include academic conferences, workshops and panels at national and international conferences, international teaching collaborations and events for the general public.

The International Populism Research Network conducts its own research projects and supports doctoral and post doc projects.

It disseminates its research findings in the form of scientific publications and publicizes the core work of its partner organizations.

To give its activities additional visibility, the International Populism Research Network also communicates with the broader public.

ZDF Info – Sendehinweis

Volksversteher - Die Tricks der Populisten

Sendetermin: 4. März, 18:45 – 19:30 auf ZDFinfo

Round Table

Convergences and singularities of Populism, Democratic Backsliding and Resilience in Europe and Beyond

Date: 20 February 2025

Time: 2pm

Location: University of Coimbra, Centre for Social Studies (Alta), Room 1

Organizer: UNPOP project – UNpacking POPulism: Comparing the formation of emotion narratives and their effects on political behaviour

The Round Table brings together scholars from different European countries. The debate will consider how democratic institutions can better respond to the populist upsurge and how the democratic imagination can be strengthened through civic engagement and political innovation.

Participants:

Bilge Yabanci, University of Deusto (Pais Basco)

Camil Ungureanu, Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona, Spain)

Cristiano Gianolla, CES, University of Coimbra (Portugal)

Emilia Palonen, University of Helsinki (Finland)

Giorgia Bulli, University of Florence (Italy)

Marjoke Oosterom, Institute of Development Studies (Brighton, Uk)

Paula Diehl, University of Kiel (Germany)

Spiegel Interview

"Populism is like the drunken guest at a dinner party"

USA, Italy, Austria – Right-wing populist parties are on the rise throughout the world. The experts Paula Diehl und Ralf Grabuschnig explain, when established parties lose out in the fight against populism. An interview by Martin Pfaffenzeller und Frank Thadeusz.

The interview is going to be published in the current edition of Spiegel History. It can also be accessed under the following link .

New book edited by Giuseppe Ballacci and Rob Goodman

Populism, Demagoguery, and Rhetoric in Historical Perspective

Contributors to the volume explore the significant conceptual overlaps between populism and demagoguery (such as their relation to manipulative or flattering rhetoric, and their resistance to systematic analysis), as well as their important differences (such as populism’s comparatively greater ideological content). With this wide range of connections in mind, the volume draws on diverse perspectives and methodologies in order to enrich the debate on populist politics by locating its theorization in a historical perspective.

With chapters by Giuseppe Ballacci, Rob Goodman, Arlene W. Saxonhouse, Tae-Yeoun Keum, Cary J. Nederman, Alessandro Mulieri, David Ragazzoni, Daniel Kapust, Kari Palonen, Giovanni Damele, Jan-Werner Müller, Mark Wenman, John P. McCormick, Paula Diehl and Simon Lambek.

The book was published on 24 October 2024 by Oxford University Press. For more information on the book (including access and purchase options), see: https://academic.oup.com/book/58625

New Book by Christoffer Kølvraa and Bernhard Forchtner

Imagining Alternative Worlds: Far-Right Fiction and the Power of Cultural Imaginaries

The book explores how the far right employs fictionality as a powerful political tool in the 21st century. It does so by examining the far right’s own cultural production and commentary through a large collection of its novels, novellas, short stories, and film reviews, illustrating how the ‘alternative worlds’ articulated in such cultural products convey its ideology. More specifically, the book identifies and analyses four distinct far-right cultural imaginaries – a ‘primordial’, a ‘nostalgic’, a ‘promethean’, and a ‘nihilist’ one – that each subtly conveys different yet linked ideas about space, time, ‘race’, gender, and heroic identity.

By drawing attention to the cultural heterogeneity of the contemporary far right, Imagining Alternative Worlds offers key insights into the dreams, identities, and norms such actors hope will define our future.

The book was published on 11 November 2024 by Routledge. More information on the book (including access and purchase options) can be found here.

Publication: Paula Diehl and BRIGITTE BARGETZ (eds.)

The Complexity of Populism – New Approaches and Methods

Much as populism has been researched, it remains a contested notion without coherent definition and methodology, and shaped by dimensions such as ideology, communication style, discourse, mobilization, and organization. It has simultaneously mobilized emotions, produced symbols, and affected subjectivity and gender relations and can manifest itself in different ways and appear in hybrid forms, such as in the cases of Silvio Berlusconi, Hugo Chávez, and Donald Trump.

With chapters by Paula Diehl, Carlos de la Torre, Birgit Sauer, Brigitte Bargetz, Stefan Bird-Pollan, Federico Finchelstein, Giorgia Bulli, Martin Reisigl, Mojca Pajnik, Till Weber.

The book was published on July 3, 2023 and can be ordered here.

Open Access: Mojca Pajnik: Transformations of the Media Sphere. Amplifying Opportunity Structures for Populism

Open access Article

Emotion Narratives on the Political Culture of Radical Right Populist Parties in Portugal and Italy

„Emotion Narratives on the Political Culture of Radical Right Populist Parties in Portugal and Italy“. In: Politics and Governance, 2024, Vol. 12.

Authors: Gianolla, C., Mónico, L., & Cruz, M.

Issue: Vol 12 (2024): Challenging Democracy: How Do Ideas of Populists and Disenchanted Citizens Align? (In Progress)

ZDF – MAITHINK Xperts: Populism

Populism in Politics and the Media

What characterises populist rhetoric? When does it become a threat to democracy? Why is it compatible with the media's attention economy? Paula Diehl talks about populism in politics and in the media at MaiThink.

Le Point J – Podcast

C’est quoi le populisme ?

Donald Trump, der kürzlich gewählte US-Präsident, wird oft als Populist bezeichnet. Genauso wie Viktor Orban, Giorgia Meloni, Marine Le Pen oder Jair Bolsonaro… Aber was genau ist Populismus? Paula Diehl, Professorin an der Universität Kiel, klärt uns bei Le Point J auf.

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