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Latest Articles

🔮 Populism: going beyond the myth of the charismatic leader

June 1, 2023

How (not) to measure China’s autocratic influence

May 31, 2023

🌊 Karnataka: a sign of hope for India's democratic backsliding

May 31, 2023

Controversies over Slovakia’s new political cabinet

May 30, 2023

🔮 Populism is not just something that populists ‘are’ – it can also be performed and communicated

May 30, 2023

June 1, 2023

🔮 Populism: going beyond the myth of the charismatic leader

Too much populism research focuses on populist leaders, argues Sabine Volk. Yet looking through the lens of collective action offers valuable insights into how we might define populism. It also provides fresh understandings of what populism does, and how it works

May 31, 2023

How (not) to measure China’s autocratic influence

Several liberal democracies view the People’s Republic of China no longer as a strategic partner, but as a systemic rival. Yet how intense is China’s influence? The China Index seeks to measure this influence across different domains. This is a welcome first step, but it is not without far-reaching flaws, write Lars Pelke and Katrin Kinzelbach

May 31, 2023

🌊 Karnataka: a sign of hope for India's democratic backsliding

The recent victory of the Congress party in the southern state of Karnataka is a step towards the reversal of India's democratic backsliding, writes Tejendra Pratap Gautam

May 30, 2023

Controversies over Slovakia’s new political cabinet

After the break-up of the governing coalition in Slovakia, President Čaputová appointed Slovakia's first cabinet composed of largely non-partisan experts. Max Steuer questions the labelling of this cabinet as ‘non-political’ or ‘technocratic’. While not hailing from general election results, it enjoys other sources of democratic legitimacy

May 30, 2023

🔮 Populism is not just something that populists ‘are’ – it can also be performed and communicated

When facts are disputed and experts delegitimised, the term 'populism' may apply to truths and to untruths. Michael Hameleers argues that populist ideas are often strategically communicated to emphasise a divide between congruent truths and incongruent lies. This only serves to emphasise the idea of a divide between ordinary people and corrupt political elites

May 26, 2023

Why we need to embrace political investorism

Investors’ political participation goes well beyond the traditional model of shareholder activism at AGMs. Yet the diversity of investors’ participation is not well recognised or conceptualised. Erin O’Brien argues for the adoption of ‘political investorism’ to capture diverse forms of investors’ political participation, and to distinguish between consumers and investors as political actors

May 26, 2023

🦋 Bhimrao Ambedkar as theorist of democracy

Bhimrao Ambedkar was many things, and is often known as a political activist and an anti-caste thinker. In addition, Scott R. Stroud positions Ambedkar as a theorist of democracy who extends the pragmatist tradition

May 25, 2023

How Erdoğan masterminded electoral victory despite Turkey's economic crisis

In the first round of the Turkish elections on 14 May, the incumbent AKP, led by President Erdoğan, won a narrow victory. This was a crushing blow for the opposition, who had pinned their hopes on Turkey's economic crisis, and crippling inflation, ending Erdoğan's authority. Erdoğan Altun explains how the AKP's electoral campaign, patronage and social assistance were crucial to its success

May 25, 2023

🔮 Populism on the ground: insights from Romania

Sorina Soare rebuts the commonly held idea that all populist parties are unstructured organisations, exclusively dependent on their leaders’ communication skills. In Romania, through initiatives such as the creation of a mobile hospital, the populist party has been able to forge stable territorial linkages with diverse groups of voters

May 24, 2023

Terrorist attacks rarely increase trust in political leaders

Research suggests that institutional trust increases in times of political crises. Christof Nägel, Amy Nivette and Christian Czymara test this notion for jihadist terror attacks in Europe. Their results imply that political leaders should not take these dynamics for granted

Latest Articles

🔮 Populism: going beyond the myth of the charismatic leader

How (not) to measure China’s autocratic influence

🌊 Karnataka: a sign of hope for India's democratic backsliding

Controversies over Slovakia’s new political cabinet

🔮 Populism is not just something that populists ‘are’ – it can also be performed and communicated

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