Right-Wing Populism Across Europe – PiAP’s First Video Series

This post initially appeared on EA Worldview


Through the spring and summer of 2020, amid the battle to check the spread of Coronavirus across Europe, the Populism in Action Project spoke via video with its Research Fellows to assess the effect of the pandemic on right-wing populist parties and their countries.

In May, Principal Investigator Daniele Albertazzi and Co-Investigator Stijn van Kessel spoke to EA Worldview’s Scott Lucas about the background to PiAP and its approach to studying populist radical right parties in Europe: how they develop mass political organizations, how they engage their members, and how they communicate with them and the public at large.

Populism and Media – From Poland to Switzerland

In July, Adrian Favero, the Research Fellow on Switzerland, discussed how the Swiss People’s Party communicates with its members and core supporters. In the video, he explains how the party complements its online activity with an investment of resource and energy into “traditional” means of communication — face-to-face meetings, events in public places, and legacy media such as print newsletters, local papers, and radio stations.

Understanding Right-Wing Populism in Belgium’s Flemish Region

Judith Sijstermans, Research Fellow in Belgium, spoke to Scott Lucas about the recent development of the Vlaams Belang Party in Flanders. Her interview outlines how how the party is altering its public image and building support, for instance through local associations running food banks and similar support projects for people affected by the Coronavirus pandemic.

Understanding Right-Wing Populism in Italy

In September, Mattia Zulianello, Research Fellow for Italy, discussed with Daniele Albertazzi the organizational development of Matteo Salvini’s League — a unique case of a regionalist party trying to establish itself as a national (and nationalist) one. He explained how the party’s traditional model of an engaged membership is evolving through the use of new media.

Understanding Right-Wing Populism in Finland

And Niko Hatakka spoke to us about how the Finns Party became a member of the populist radical right. He discussed changes in internal culture and organization as the party’s support in the country has grown under leader Jussi Halla-aho.

 

Video: Understanding Right-Wing Populism in Finland

This post originally appeared on EA Worldview


In the fifth and final interview in Populism in Action’s first video series, Finland-focused Research Fellow Niko Hatakka explains the position and aspirations of the right-wing populist Finns Party.

Niko explains that, having moved from center-left to right in recent years, with a change of leadership in 2017, the Finns Party has undertaken development of organization and a social media strategy. At the same time, the Party’s members are often “loose” or “unaffiliated”, with their own political and ideological positions influencing the leadership.

So what chance of the Finns Party returning to a coalition Government?

Before Niko’s interview, I ask Stijn van Kessel, co-director of the Populism in Action Project, how European right-wing populist parties will respond to the UK’s impending departure from the European Union.

Video: Understanding Right-Wing Populism in Italy

This post originally appeared on EA Worldview


PiAP’s Principal Investigator Daniele Albertazzi talks with the project’s Research Fellow for Italy, Mattia Zulianello, about his research on the League Party led by Matteo Salvini.

The discussion considers three core themes around the League’s rapid development and prominence in Italian politics and society.

How and why the League is attempting to export its model of mass party organisation from its initial base in northern Italy to the south?

What are the challenges of expansion into the south for a regional party now seeking to be national?

How can the League meet that challenge with the combination of its use of “new media” and its offline activity?