Daphne Halikiopoulou and Tim Vlandas, authors of the recent Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung report on right wing populism, discuss how demand and supply factors and policies affect support for populist right wing parties, and what can be done to mitigate that support.
Join the authors, Sofia Vasilopoulou, Diane Bolet, and Daniele Albertazzi for a discussion on the report and its implications for public policy and for the study of right wing populism.
Using a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods and cases from 17 European countries, the report looks at three P's to explain support for right wing populist parties - people, parties, and policies. Together with a panel of leading experts on populist right wing parties, we explore the dynamics that make individuals vote for right wing populist parties, what makes some such parties more successful than others, and the role of social policies in facilitating or moderating the success of those parties.
Meet the speakers and chair
Professor Daphne Halikiopoulou (@halikiopoulou) is Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Reading. She has written extensively on nationalism and the cultural and economic determinants of far-right party support. Her research appears in the European Journal of Political Research, Journal of Common Market Studies, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Government and Opposition, European Political Science Review, and Nations and Nationalism among others. From 2023, she will be Chair of Comparative Politics at the University of York. She is joint Editor-in-Chief of the journal Nations and Nationalism (with John Breuilly, John Hutchinson and Eric Kaufmann) and co-editor (with Daniel Stockemer) of the Springer book series in Electoral Politics.
Dr Diane Bolet (@dianebolet) is a political scientist and comparativist, specialised in voting behaviour, public opinion and far-right politics in Europe and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Zürich. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) looking at how local context shapes voting preferences for the radical right in European countries. Her thesis won an honourable mention for the Ernst B. Haas Dissertation Prize for the best dissertation on European Politics from the European Politics and Society section of APSA. She previously earned a distinction Dual MSc degree in European Politics from Sciences Po, Paris and LSE and a Higher Distinction BA in International Politics from King’s College, London.
Professor Sofia Vasilopoulou (@vasilopoulou_s) is Professor of European Politics at King’s College London. Her work examines the causes and consequences of political dissatisfaction among the public and the ways in which this is channelled through party strategies and party competition. Specific themes include Euroscepticism and far right politics. Her research and teaching interests lie in Comparative Politics, Political Behaviour, Party Politics and European Union Politics. She is Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal of Political Research and an Honorary Professor at the University of York, where she worked from 2011 to 2022.
Dr Tim Vlandas (@timvlandas) is Associate Professor in the Department of Social Policy and Fellow in St Antony’s College, both at the University of Oxford. He holds a PhD in Political Economy from the London School of Economics. His main area of expertise is comparative political economy, with a particular interest in the relationship between electoral politics, public policies and socio-economic outcomes. His research has been published in over 25 academic journals and has received awards from the American Political Science Association and the European Network for Social Policy Analysis. He has recently co-authored a book entitled “Foreign States in Domestic Markets: Sovereign Wealth Funds and the West”, published by Oxford University Press. His research has been cited by the UK House of Commons, World Bank, International Labour Organisation, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, European Commission, and the United Nations.
Dr Elliott Green (@elliottdgreen) is Associate Professor of Development Studies in the Department of International Development at the LSE, where he is also director of the PhD programme. His main research areas are ethnic politics and national identity in Africa; patronage, clientelism and African development; and the political demography of modern Africa. He has conducted fieldwork in Uganda, Tanzania and Botswana, and for several years taught a course entitled ‘Poverty and Development’ at the annual LSE-University of Cape Town Summer School. Outside academia he has briefed the British High Commissioner to Uganda twice (in 2008 and 2010) and regularly writes blog entries for a variety of websites.
More information about the event
This event is hosted by LSE IDEAS
Event hashtags: #LSEPopulism
LSE IDEAS (@lseideas) is LSE's foreign policy think tank. Through sustained engagement with policymakers and opinion-formers, IDEAS provides a forum that informs policy debate and connects academic research with the practice of diplomacy and strategy.