Understanding Populism, its parties, and its grassroots

Latest Project News and Analysis

About the Project

Welcome to the website of the Populism in Action Project. Populism in Action was a comparative political science research project studying populist radical right parties in the Western European countries of Belgium, Finland, Italy and Switzerland which ran between summer 2019 and spring 2022. It produced an understanding of how and why populist radical right parties invest a lot of time, effort and resources into building mass membership and supporter organisations, how this works, how it benefits them, and why people choose to get involved. In addition to academic outputs, the Populism in Action research team communicated its findings through incisive short articles, media appearances, briefing notes and events. Find out more about the project and its approach.

Meet the Team

 

 

Institutional Affiliations

Full colour logo of the University of Birmingham. The University's shield, divided into three gudrants red, blue and black sits to the left hand side of the University's name split across two lines, all in capital letters and a cursive script
Logo of Queen Mary, University of London. Styalised crown in a shape evoking the letters "Q" and "M" next to the text Queen Mary in large letters above the text "University of London".

Logo of the University of Surrey. It comprises a golden silhouette of a stag holding a key set next to some serified text in dark blue block capitals reading University of Surrey

 

Project Funder

Logo of the UK's Economic and Social Research council. It contains the UKRI logo, next to two interlocking shapes one a reddy orange the other a pinkish red, then the text "Economic and Social Research Council"

Comparing Populisms

Belgium

Italy

Events

Populism in the World

Finland

Switzerland

The Project in the Media