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Future of Populism

April 4, 2023

🔮 Looking beyond populism… to better understand populism

Bartek Pytlas The sometimes inflationary use of ‘populism’ has prompted calls to discard the term altogether. Bartek Pytlas argues that what we need instead is a more differentiated and dynamic approach to populism - one that involves contrasting populism against other ideas, as well as observing how political actors use these ideas in practice Read more

March 31, 2023

🔮 How early insights about populism have stood the test of time

Reinhard Heinisch The more populism has evolved and the more we have learned about this supposedly elusive and contested concept, the more we recognise that the early insights we gained about the phenomenon have stood the test of time. Reinhard Heinisch argues that although these early lessons already pointed to the importance of credible change agency, ambiguity, and territoriality as crucial features for populism's success, their role is still not fully understood Read more

March 29, 2023

🔮 Social media: populists’ partners in crime

Laura Jacobs Social media play a key role in amplifying populist messages. The resulting misinformation, political polarisation, and the proliferation of hate speech, pose challenges for democracy. Laura Jacobs steps into the populist echo chamber Read more

March 21, 2023

🔮 Three die-hard myths about populism

Mattia Zulianello Mattia Zulianello and Petra Guasti explore and rebut three die-hard myths about populism. This, they argue, on the one hand guards against overestimating populism as a phenomenon. On the other, it warns that we must not underestimate the political strength of the so-called populist radical right Read more

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