The impact of ‘populism’ on European public policy

• Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies

This workshop will explore the link between populism as a phenomenon and the wider transformation processes of European representative democracy.

The debate about the political transformation underway and the role of ‘populism’ in effecting that change has evolved considerably over the past two-to-three decades. Scholars have learned a lot about the nature of ‘populism’, its connection to changes underway in political parties and party systems, its impact on political norms and language, and its contribution to the erosion of liberal democratic performance.  

Despite a burgeoning literature we still know relatively little about the link between ‘populism’ as a phenomenon and the wider transformation processes European representative democracy is currently undergoing. This is astonishing given the evident links between the ‘nature’ of the populist challenge and broader academic debates in comparative politics about nation and citizenship, representation, direct participation and the substantial objectives of ‘good government’.  

The workshop recasts the debate from the angle of democratic public policymaking in the specific socio-political space which is Europe. Researchers analyse the impact of populists on specific themes on the collective European agenda and across varieties of specific domestic and regional contexts. The conversation aims at assessing the real-world impact of populism on public policies - and launching a new reflection about the causal mechanisms through which ‘populism’ shapes (or not) European democracies.

This workshop is upon invitation only