POPBACK: Populist Backlash, Democratic Backsliding, and the Crisis of the Rule of Law in the European Union
Lead Research Organisation:
Loughborough University
Department Name: UNLISTED
Abstract
This project aims to inform strategies to increase democratic resilience by
studying the mechanisms “exclusionary populists” use to increase their power by
undermining the Rule of Law in the areas of law, the economy, and the media.
The project also seeks to identify the “coping strategies” societal actors use when
faced with exclusionary populism. This topic is highly relevant to the call themes
by investigating the politics and economics of threat (Theme 2 – work packages
1 and 2); the democratisation of information (Theme 3 – WP3); and the
changing authority of and trust in institutions (Theme 5 – all WPs).
Adopting an interdisciplinary approach spanning political economy, legal-,
management-, and media studies, we compare Austria, Croatia, Germany,
Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, and Turkey, all of which have
experienced varying degrees of populist success.
Besides high-impact publications, the findings of the project will inform concrete
solutions for challenges to democratic governance. We collaborate with the
Cambridge Centre for Science and Policy, which will create five International
Policy Fellowships for key stakeholders from the countries studied. These will
constitute channels for evidence-based input from world-leading academics to
inform coping strategies and stimulate cross-country knowledge exchange.
Furthermore, we seek to reach a broader non-academic audience by
collaborating with artists to stage a participatory performance in four cities to
engage a dialogue with citizens from the countries we study. This project will be
organised into four WPs, focussing on legal changes (WP1), business and
economics (WP2), media and communications (WP3), and impact (WP4).
studying the mechanisms “exclusionary populists” use to increase their power by
undermining the Rule of Law in the areas of law, the economy, and the media.
The project also seeks to identify the “coping strategies” societal actors use when
faced with exclusionary populism. This topic is highly relevant to the call themes
by investigating the politics and economics of threat (Theme 2 – work packages
1 and 2); the democratisation of information (Theme 3 – WP3); and the
changing authority of and trust in institutions (Theme 5 – all WPs).
Adopting an interdisciplinary approach spanning political economy, legal-,
management-, and media studies, we compare Austria, Croatia, Germany,
Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, and Turkey, all of which have
experienced varying degrees of populist success.
Besides high-impact publications, the findings of the project will inform concrete
solutions for challenges to democratic governance. We collaborate with the
Cambridge Centre for Science and Policy, which will create five International
Policy Fellowships for key stakeholders from the countries studied. These will
constitute channels for evidence-based input from world-leading academics to
inform coping strategies and stimulate cross-country knowledge exchange.
Furthermore, we seek to reach a broader non-academic audience by
collaborating with artists to stage a participatory performance in four cities to
engage a dialogue with citizens from the countries we study. This project will be
organised into four WPs, focussing on legal changes (WP1), business and
economics (WP2), media and communications (WP3), and impact (WP4).