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Brothers of Italy

August 6, 2026

Why anti-EU rhetoric persists without an anti-EU public

Zoe Gueli Zoe Gueli argues that in Italy, the anti-Brussels rhetoric of governing right-wing party Fratelli d’Italia survives not because Italians are Eurosceptic, but because its rhetoric functions as a domestic political tool – one that EU institutions are structurally unable to counter Read more
August 3, 2026

My love, my car: inside right-wing transport policy

Flora Baumgartner Opposition to sustainable transport projects is growing, because of distributive and identity grievances familiar from broader climate policy. Flora Baumgartner looks at how transport policies are contested locally, and how they act as glue for right-wing parties, locally and at a European level Read more
February 11, 2026

🔮 Making sense of decades of populism in Europe with The PopulisTree 

Mattia Zulianello Mattia Zulianello introduces the PopulisTree, a new taxonomy and open-access dataset that maps the full diversity of populist parties across Europe over recent decades. Building upon and expanding the existing PopuList database, The PopulisTree helps scholars, journalists, and policymakers analyse one of the most important political phenomena of our times  Read more
November 27, 2025

🔮 Populist publics are becoming increasingly transnational

Francesco Vittonetto Brought together by a shared ideology, converging around global events, and united in their support for radical-right leaders, populist audiences on social media are becoming increasingly global. Francesco Vittonetto discusses why we can now start talking about transnational populist publics  Read more
September 2, 2025

Are European Parliament elections really ‘second-order elections’?

Ugur Tekiner European elections are traditionally seen as less significant than national elections. But Ugur Tekiner argues that the recent challenges facing the EU force us to rethink this classification. Recent European elections accurately reflect the national political mood in Member States, and reveal the growing polarisation around Europe Read more
November 7, 2024

Italy’s cross-border crackdown on surrogacy, and the rising tide of transnational repression

Janina Heaphy Italy’s new cross-border surrogacy ban is typical of the way democratic nations are adopting authoritarian measures to target citizens who travel abroad to circumvent restrictions at home. The new law targets LGBTQ+ families in particular. Janina Heaphy argues that Italy's actions reflect a global trend of transnational restrictions on personal freedoms and human rights. Read more
August 8, 2024

What do Italians think of the dangers of authoritarianism under Meloni? 

Antonio Campati Antonio Campati, Martino Mazzoleni, and Andrea Scavo find, based on survey evidence, that Italians do not perceive an authoritarian risk in the far-right government led by Giorgia Meloni. However, they also discover a generational difference in attitudes towards democracy that may constitute concern for the future Read more
June 4, 2024

How real is the threat of the populist far right in the European Parliament elections?

James F. Downes James F. Downes argues that elections to the European Parliament will likely lead to record representation for populist far-right parties. Lack of unity and ideological divisions, however, will make it difficult for the far right to wield any real power Read more

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Advancing Political Science
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