Annual Workshop

Our annual workshop has become an institution. It constitutes an inclusive space for critical reflection on populism from a variety of theoretical and empirical angles. Our annual workshop hosts junior and emerging as well as established scholars who present their work next to each other. Our aim is to expand our critically-oriented community of populism research, forge collaborations and expand our members' network while offering a vibrant, friendly, collegially and sustainable environment.

Check out the Call for Papers for our 9th Annual Workshop by clicking here! 

8th Annual PSG Workshop: Populism Anti-Populism, Polarisation, 19-20 September 2024, Democracy Institute, CEU, Budapest

The full programme for our 8th Annual Workshop in PDF is available here


Call for Papers

Keynote speakers

Oliver Marchart (University of Vienna)

Emilia Palonen (University of Helsinki)

Contemporary societies are said to be characterised by increasing polarisation on almost every single issue – ranging from science and the vaccines, identity politics and intersectionality, the environment and climate change, truth and freedom of speech, to name but a few. The so-called truth or culture wars constitute the new norm, drawing new political antagonisms that cut across the classic left/right axis. A burgeoning literature suggests that polarisation has pernicious effects, not only on political party systems but also on society and, by extension, democracy. Reflecting the recent populist hype, polarisation is most often associated with populist leaders, parties and discourses that challenge the political and social consensus, mobilising negative affects and forming antagonistic partisan identities that transgress the established norms of liberal democracies. 

However, polarisation is not a new political feature, nor is it necessarily intrinsic to the populist phenomenon as antagonism and conflict are seen as inseparable parts of the political. The same goes for political emotions – a core dimension of political conflict that has always been met with suspicion. While the role of populists in the politics of polarisation has been extensively studied, the role of anti-populists has been largely overlooked. This blind spot is significant, as understanding polarisation as a relational dynamic implies, by definition, that anti-populism also plays a prominent role in this divide. 

We welcome critical and reflexive contributions that interrogate the dynamic between populist and anti-populist polarisation, and more broadly explore the rise of the polarisation narrative and how it can be connected to discourses on populism as an alleged threat to democracy. A non-exhaustive list of topics can be found below:

Please submit a 250-word abstract by 17 May 2024 using this form.

We will notify applicants by 28 June 2024.  We aim to provide feedback to those whose abstract is rejected.

The workshop is free of charge. However, applicants should make their own arrangements for transport and accommodation. 

The Populism Specialist Group provides an inclusive, vibrant and critical space for dialogue. We highly encourage junior and emerging, as well as established scholars, from different fields, ethnic backgrounds and regions of the world to participate. 


Full programme

Thursday, 19 September 2024

9:30 – 11:00am | Panel 1: Polarisation, Agonism, Antagonism

Chair: Théo Aiolfi


11:30am – 12:45pm | Panel 2: Populism, Organisation, Democracy

Chair: George Newth


11:30am – 12:45pm | Panel 3: Populist and Anti-Populist Strategies

Chair: Giorgos Venizelos


2:15 – 3:45pm | Panel 4: Populism, Affect, Fandom

Chairs: Lone Sørensen & Thomás Zicman de Barros


2:15 – 3:45pm | Panel 5: Populism, Anti-Populism and Conservatism

Chair: Théo Aiolfi


4:15 – 5:30pm | Keynote Address


Friday, 20 September

9:30 – 11:00am | Panel 6: Polarisation in Context

Chair: Théo Aiolfi


11:30am – 12:45pm | Panel 7: Populism and Anti-Populism in Academia

Chair: Thomás Zicman de Barros


11:30am – 12:45pm | Panel 8: Populism, Visuals and Visuality

Chair: Juan Roch


2:15 – 3:45pm | Panel 9: Aesthetics, Performativity and Culture

Chair: George Newth


2:15 – 3:45pm | Panel 10: Post-Truth and Epistemology

Chair: Lone Sørensen


4:15 – 5:30pm | Keynote Address

7th Annual PSG Workshop: Populism and Aesthetics, 21-22 September 2023, University of Leeds

Call for Papers

Keynote speakers

Cami Rowe (Lancaster University)

Jonathan Dean (University of Leeds)

In recent years, critical approaches in populism studies have seen a number of innovative contributions that study populism as discourse, strategy, ideology, as well as political style, performance and, more broadly, as aesthetic. Populist movements, leaders and citizens are aesthetically transgressive, either by the way they behave in the public sphere or by the subalternised social groups their discourse brings into politics. These approaches open new fields of transdisciplinary investigation, which bring together discourse theory with theatre and performance studies, sociology of taste, class and culture, political communication as well as history, queer studies and social psychology, among other perspectives.

We are keen to support the growing field of populism studies in various disciplines and approaches by accepting proposals engaging with the question of populism and aesthetics. More broadly, we encourage submissions exploring theoretical, methodological, and empirical studies related, but by no means restricted, to the following topics:

Please submit a 250-word abstract in our online form by the 1st of June 2023. We will notify applicants by the 1st of July 2023.

There is no participation fee but presenters must arrange their own accommodation and travel.

We strongly encourage junior researchers, researchers of the Global South, women, non-binary persons, non-white persons, persons with disability and minorities to submit their proposals. All participants must abide by the PSA code of conduct.


Full programme

Thursday, 21 September

9:30 – 10:45am | Panel 1: What is left of Left-wing Populism?

Chair: Juan Roch González  


11:15am – 12:30pm | Panel 2: Matches or Mismatches? Liberalism, Neoliberalism and (Far) Right-wing Populism  

Chair: George Newth  


1:30 – 2:45pm | Panel 3: Anti-Populism: Discourse about Populism and the Far Right  

Chair: Giorgos Venizelos  


3:15 – 4:15pm | Panel 4: When Populism Softens: Institutionalization and Moderation  

Chair: Théo Aiolfi  


4:30 – 5:45pm | First Keynote Address 


Friday, 22 September

9:30 – 10:45am | Panel 5: Populist Performances: Empirical Demonstrations and Theoretical Innovations  

Chair: George Newth  


11:15am – 12:30pm | Panel 6: Truth, Knowledge and Populist Discourse  

Chair: Thomás Zicman de Barros  


1:30 – 3:15pm | Second Keynote Address


3:15 – 4:45pm | Panel 7: Populism and the Digital World: Reactionary Politics, Performance and Online Communication  

Chair: Lone Sørensen  


5:30 – 6:30pm | Panel 8 – Subaltern Studies, the Mob and Democracy  

Chair: Juan Roch González  

6th Annual PSG Workshop: Populist Politics in the Post-Pandemic Landscape,  22-23 September 2022, University of Brighton

Call for Papers

Keynote Speakers

Lone Sørensen (University of Leeds)

Óscar García Agustín (Aalborg University)

At the dawn of the COVID-19 outbreak, pundits rushed to announce the death of populism. However, reality suggests that populism remains a salient feature of con-temporary politics. It wasn’t just that incumbent populists survived the pandemic, but emergent populists have capitalised upon this opportunity, articulating classic but also novel political demands. This highlights the relevance of populism as well as its critical and reflexive study – and through focusing on its encounters with those topics already explored but also with emergent ones.

In contributing to the burgeoning field of populism studies, we welcome cross-disciplinary theoretical, methodological and empirical proposals that are related, but by no means restricted, to the following themes:

How to submit your paper proposal

Please send a 250 words abstract, including your paper title, name, email and affiliation by the 1st of June 2022. We will notify applicants by the 1st of July 2022.

There is no participation fee but presenters should sort out their accommodation and travel themselves.

We strongly encourage junior researchers, researchers of the Global South, women and minorities to submit their proposals.


Full programme

Thursday, 22 September

10:15 – 11:30am | Panel 1: Populism and the far right 1

Chair: Thomás Zicman de Barros


12:00 – 1:15pm | Panel 2: The populist hype

Chair: Giorgos Venizelos


2:15 – 3:30pm | Panel 3: Populism, anti-populism and crisis

Chair: Andy Knott


4:00 – 5:15pm | Panel 4: Populism and theory

Chair: Emmy Eklundh


5:30 – 6:30pm | First Keynote Address


Friday, 23 September

10:00 – 11:00am | Panel 5: Populism and the pandemic

Chair: Giorgos Venizelos


11:30am – 12:45pm | Panel 6: Discourse about populism

Chair: Thomás Zicman de Barros


1:45 – 2:45pm | Second Keynote Address 


3:00 – 4:15pm | Panel 7: Populism and the far-right 2

Chair: Emmy Eklundh


4:45 – 6:00pm | Panel 8: Populism and grassroots

Chair: Andy Knott

Populism, Protest, and New Forms of Political Organization: Ten Years After the Squares, 8-10 September 2021, Free University Berlin

Call for Papers

Keynote speakers

Cristina Flesher Fominaya (University of Loughborough)

Paolo Gerbaudo (King’s College London)

Joint conference of the DVPW Populism Group Initiative & the PSA Populism Specialist Group

The past decade has seen the emergence of – and growing scholarly interest in – populism in conjunction with a wide range of protest phenomena from below: from the Arab Spring to Hong Kong, from the Indignados and Occupy to Euromaidan and PEGIDA, from the Tea Party to Extinction Rebellion to the COVID-19 anti-lockdown protests – protest movements worldwide have taken to public squares with the claim to represent “the people,” “the citizenry,” or “the 99%” against entire political systems deemed unresponsive or undemocratic. The sheer diversity of these phenomena has challenged both the notion that the post-2010 movements of the squares constitute straightforwardly radical-democratic phenomena without wider implications for institutionalized politics, on the one hand, and the assumption that populism (from a Eurocentric perspective) is the exclusive domain of the nationalist right, on the other. In the wake of these movements, competing political forces have emerged in turn with the claim to represent the legacy or objectives of these movements within the institutions, transforming in the process the ways in which politics as we know it is practiced and organized: from “movement parties against austerity” to “radical right movement parties,” from “populism 2.0” to the rise of “digital parties” or “platform parties,” new forms of political organization, new categories of academic debate, and arguably new forms of populist phenomena – left and right, radical-democratic and authoritarian, progressive and reactionary – have come to the fore in the aftermath of mass protest episodes.

This conference seeks to bring together this interest in populism, in all its diversity, in relation to the manifold forms of contentious politics that have emerged in the last ten years, with a particular interest in new forms of political organization, institutionalization, radicalization, and transformation of populist movements and/or in specifically populist fashion vis-à-vis other types of movements. Possible lines of inquiry include: the relationship between populism and party organization, populism and radical democracy, populism in and out of or against power, populism and authoritarian consolidation, or populism and digital activism, just to name a few examples.

The conference is jointly organized by the German Political Science Association (DVPW) Populism Group Initiative and the Political Studies Association (PSA) Populism Specialist Group. We expressly welcome theoretical and empirical contributions alike as well as different conceptual and methodological approaches to the study of populism.

The conference is being planned in strict accordance with COVID-19 protocols. In the event that a switch to a digital format becomes necessary, an announcement will be made as soon as possible.

Please submit abstracts no longer than 250 words by February 15.

Organizing team: Andreas Eder-Ramsauer (FU Berlin); Seongcheol Kim (University of Kassel); Andy Knott (University of Brighton); Marina Prentoulis (University of East Anglia).


Full programme:

Wednesday, 8  September

10:15 – 12:00am | Panel 1: Theoretical Considerations on Populism and the Squares I  


1:00 – 2:30pm | Panel 2: Populism and New Forms of Organization in Southern Europe  


2:45 – 4:15pm | Panel 3: The Yellow Vests and Populism in France  


5:30 – 6:45pm | First Keynote Address


Thursday, 9 September

9:30 – 11:00am | Panel 4: Theoretical Considerations on Populism and the Squares II


11:15am – 1:00pm | Panel 5: Populism and Protest in Southern Europe  


2:00 – 3:30pm | Panel 6: Populism and Protest in Central and Eastern Europe  


3:45 – 5:15pm | Panel 7: Populism and Protest in Latin America  


5:30 – 6:45pm | Second Keynote Address


Friday, 10 September

9:30 – 11:15am | Panel 8: Populism and Protest in Asia  


11:30am – 1:00pm | Panel 9: Populism and Protest in the UK and Canada  


2:00 – 3:30pm | Panel 10: Populism, (Counter-)Protest, and COVID-19  

5th Annual PSG Workshop: Populism: New Perspectives,  9-11 June 2021 (Online)

Call for Papers

Keynote speaker

Aurelien Mondon (University of Bath)

Populism remains as hotly debated as ever with relevant studies proliferating in recent years to an unprecedented extent. This has led many to talk about the emergence of a distinct field of ‘populism studies’ which spans disciplines from political theory and comparative politics to anthropology and international relations. Within this context, and on the theoretical and methodological level, we have seen new critical perspectives on the phenomenon as well as substantial critiques to established approaches. Similarly, in empirical research, we have seen studies of actors and regions previously ignored or under-researched but also the ‘usual suspects’ being scrutinised with new tools and methods, shedding light on aspects previously missed or downplayed. In this sense, the field is not only expanding, but is currently going through a period of maturation and critical reflexivity in which cross-disciplinarity and theoretical/methodological innovation play a key role. At the forefront of this movement there is a new generation of early career researchers (PhD students and postdoctoral researchers) that have come of age in a period of overlapping crises and tectonic shifts that have been reshaping societies and political systems across the world. At this workshop we aim to take stock of these novel developments in the field and give the floor to this new generation of populism scholars in order to promote both theoretical and empirical innovation in today’s critical juncture and to further cultivate the links among this vibrant community of younger researchers.

There are no limitations as to the thematic scope of the workshop, but we would particularly encourage people to present papers on the following topics:

Please send a paper title and abstract (max. 200 words), along with a brief biographical note (max. 70 words) by 15 February 2021. Accepted participants will be notified by 31 March 2021.

Notes: 

(1) Given the still fragile and uncertain situation with the COVID19 pandemic, this workshop will take place fully online. More details will be sent to accepted participants in due course;

(2) There are two specialist events that the Populism Specialist Group of the PSA will be (co)coordinating for 2021 – the second one in Berlin, in collaboration with the DVPW Populism Group Initiative on 8-10 September. We remain committed to generating and sustaining a scholarly community and, as a result, we will prioritise a wider spread of applicants for both events over duplication of personnel and/or presentations.


Full programme

Wednesday, 9 June

5:00 – 6:15pm | Keynote Address


Thursday, 10 June

9:30 – 11:00am | Panel A1: Populism and Discourse Theory  

Chair: Emmy Eklundh (Cardiff University)  

Discussant: Lasse Thomassen (Queen Mary University of London)  


9:30 – 11:00am | Panel A2: Populism, Media and Social Media  

Chair: Giorgos Venizelos (Scuola Normale Superiore)  

Discussant: Lone Sorensen (University of Leeds)  


11:30am – 12:45pm | Panel B1: Measuring populism  

Chair: Andy Knott (University of Brighton)  

Discussant: Stuart Turnbull-Dugarte (University of Southampton)  


11:30am – 12:45pm | Panel B2: Populism in Eastern Europe  

Chair: Alen Toplišek (King’s College London)  

Discussant: Petra Guasti (Charles University Prague)  


1:45 – 3:00pm | Panel C: Populism in Theory I  

Chair: Giorgos Katsambekis (Loughborough University)  

Discussant: Paula Biglieri (University of Buenos Aires)  


3:30 – 5:00pm | Panel D: Populism, performance and popular culture  

Chair: Marina Prentoulis (University of East Anglia)  

Discussant: Pierre Ostiguy (University of Valparaiso) and Emmy Eklundh (Cardiff University)  


Friday, 11 June

9:30 – 11:00am | Panel E1: Nativism, migration, xenophobia  

Chair: Giorgos Venizelos (Scuola Normale Superiore)  

Discussant: Caterina Froio (Sciences Po)  


9:30 – 11:00am | Panel E2: Anti-populism  

Chair: Giorgos Katsambekis (Loughborough University)  

Discussant: Yannis Stavrakakis (Aristotle University Thessaloniki)  

4th Annual PSG Workshop: The ‘Populist Moment’: Temporality, Transformations, Crises, 2-3 April 2020 (Online)

Call for Papers

Keynote speakers

Simon Tormey (University of Bristol)

María Esperanza Casullo (Universidad Nacional de Río Negro)

After the rise of Trump and Brexit, it has almost become a cliché among scholars and commentators to suggest that we are living through a ‘populist moment.’ As the argument goes, populism has always been a significant force in Europe and the Americas, but its rise had been characterised by episodic and context-specific surges. What is different, now, is that surges seem to manifest simultaneously, not only in Europe and the Americas, but also beyond, notably in India, Southeast Asia, Australia, but also Africa. In other words, the populist surge seems to have gone global for good. But is this really the case? If yes, how can we better explain it, taking into account the heterogeneity of populist actors as well as the multiplicity of institutional settings? If this is not really the case, how are we to critically assess discourses that seem to be ‘hyping’ populism, often to the extent of triggering moral panic? In this sense, we are interested both in contributions that aim to substantiate the claim that we live in a ‘populist moment,’ and others that would problematise and question this, focusing on the uses (and abuses) of ‘populism’ as a term or signifier. Could it be that part of what’s often discussed as an unprecedented rise of populist politics has also to do with the way that the media, politicians, think-tanks and scholars talk about the term? In a bid to tackle these questions, we suggest the following areas of enquiry and we welcome both theoretical and empirical contributions:

Global mapping of the populist surge: The proliferation of populist actors around the globe urges us to produce a comprehensive mapping of the phenomenon. What are the preconditions for the rise of populism? What are the variations of populist phenomena?

Social movements and populism: From the Spanish Indignados to Occupy in the US, and from the ‘Yellow Vests’ in France to the current protests in Chile, a new wave of progressive, leaderless and movement-based populism seems to emerge. How do these bottom-up mobilisations help us understand the under-researched demand side of populism? How might these movements, their organisation and strategies inform our understanding of populist politics and its impact on democracy?

Populism in government: Increasingly, populist actors hold regional or central positions of power, enter coalitions or lead governments. How different are these actors in office when compared to non-populist ones? And how do they compare to each other?

Populism as a signifier: how can we better assess the language games around the term ‘populism’? Could it be that its uses and abuses might serve certain purposes or generate political outcomes? How have the ways that we speak about ‘populism’ in the public sphere evolved in recent years?

Populism and anti-populism: along with the rise of populism, one can observe the rise of discourse consistently opposing or fighting it. Are there patterns and commonalities in ‘anti-populist’ discourses that characterise actors utilising them, or is this just a rhetorical tool used rather randomly?

Please send your paper title, abstract (200 words max) and short biographical note (70 words max) by 30th December 2019. Accepted participants will be notified by 20th January the latest.

Full programme:

Monday, 14 September

10:00 – 11:15am | Panel 1: Populism, institutions and power  

Chair: Emmy Eklundh  


11:45am – 1:00pm | Panel 2: Populism and Affect  

Chair: Giorgos Katsambekis  


Tuesday, 15 September

10:00 – 11:15am | Panel 3: Revisiting theories of populism  

Chair: Giorgos Venizelos  


11:45am – 1:15pm | Panel 4: Populism and Elitism: Antitheses or brothers in arms?  

Chair: Andy Knott  


Wednesday, 16 September

11:15am – 12:30pm | Panel 5: Populism in movement(s)  

Chair: Alen Toplišek  


1:00 – 2:15pm |  First Keynote Address


Thursday, September 17

10:00 – 11:30am | Panel 6: Populism and Anti-populism  

Chair: Marina Prentoulis  


12:00am – 1:15pm | Second Keynote Address 


Friday, 18 September

10:00 – 11:15am | Panel 7: From the streets to institutions  

Chair: Emmy Eklundh  


11:45am – 1:00pm | Panel 8: Varia

Chair: Giorgos Venizelos  

3rd Annual PSG Workshop: Populism, Liberalism, Democracy, 12-13 April 2019, Loughborough University

Call for Papers

Keynote speakers

Ruth Wodak (Lancaster University)

Michael Freeden (University of Oxford)

Populism has been a buzzword for quite a few years now. But after Brexit and Trump, and with the rise of new populist actors in Europe and beyond we have been witnessing an unprecedented inflation in the use of the term both in the public sphere and in academic debates. The concept is often applied to antithetical phenomena, left-wing and right-wing, anti-democratic or radical democratic ones. Accordingly, the debate seems to be split between those who see populism as a ‘clear and present danger’ for democracy and those that stress the democratic potential of such movements. A lot depends on the particular definition of democracy one adopts: elitist or participatory, liberal or radical; and thus on the normative position one takes. Indeed, for many researchers and commentators, democracy is often reduced exclusively to liberal democracy, which leads to an almost automatic dismissal of all populist movements either as undemocratic or, at best, as minimally democratic but ‘illiberal’.

The Populism Specialist Group seeks papers that confront these questions. Is populism by definition anti-democratic or illiberal? What is the relationship between the crisis of liberal democracy and the proliferation of populism(s) in today’s world? Is populism, at best, a symptom of this crisis or can it be also envisaged as a solution for the reinvigoration of democracy? What are the conditions leading to the one or the other political outcome?

We are looking for abstracts which engage with the question of populist politics from either a theoretical, empirical, or methodological perspective, qualitative or quantitative, local or global. In particular, we are interested in papers that deal with the various definitions and concrete forms of populism in their ambivalent relationship with liberalism and democracy.


Full programme:

Friday, 12 April

9:15 – 10:30am | Panel 1: Populism and Performativity  

Chair: Yannis Stavrakakis  


11:00am – 12:30pm | Panel 2: Populism, Metaphors, Representation  

Chair: Andy Knott  


1:30 – 3:00pm | Panel 3: Non-Populist Populism?  

Chair: Giorgos Katsambekis  


3:30 – 5:00pm | Panel 4: Populism in Power  

Chair: Emmy Eklundh  


5:15 – 6:15pm | First Keynote Address 


Saturday, 13 April

9:00 – 10:30am | Panel 5: Populism and Global Orders  

Chair: Andy Knott  


11:00am – 12:30pm | Panel 6: Challenges to the Liberal Order  

Chair: Yannis Stavrakakis  


1:30 – 2:30pm | Second Keynote Address 


2:45 – 4:15pm | Panel 7: Defining the people  

Chair: Emmy Eklundh  


4:45 – 6:15pm | Panel 8: Populism, Anti-populism and Authority  

Chair: Giorgos Katsambekis  

2nd Annual PSG Workshop: Defining ‘Populism’: Concepts, Contexts, Genealogies, 23-24 March 2018, University of Bath

Call for Papers

Keynote speaker

Benjamin Moffitt (Uppsala University)

Today populism seems to be, once more, firmly back in the agenda. An avalanche of recent events have shocked and scandalized our public spheres internationally, puzzling academics, journalists and citizens alike. The Italian and BREXIT referendums and, in a more pronounced way, the victory of Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential elections constitute only the most recent ones in a long chain that elevated ‘populism’ into one of the most hotly debated topics in contemporary politics, media and academia. Although populism is becoming politics’ buzzword and its impact is being felt across the globe, beyond a widespread concern about its explosive appearance, there’s little agreement about how the phenomenon should be defined, the context behind its surge & what factors in our past and current conjuncture facilitated it. The Populism Specialist Group seeks papers that confront these questions.

We are looking for abstracts which engage with the question of populist politics from either a theoretical, empirical, or methodological perspective, local or global. In particular, we are interested in papers which deal with the various definitions of populism, its conceptual backgrounds and genealogies in different contexts internationally.

Please send your abstract no later than 10 January 2018. 


Full programme

Friday, 23 March

9:30 – 11:00am | Panel 1  


11:30am – 1:00pm | Panel 2  


2:00 – 3:30pm | Panel 3  


4:15 – 5:45pm | Keynote Address


Saturday, 24 March

9:30 – 11:00am | Panel 4  


11:30am – 1:00pm | Panel 5  


2:00 – 3:30pm | Panel 6  


4:00 – 5:30pm | Panel 7  

1st Annual PSG Workshop: Populism and the Nation-State: Tensions and/or Possibilities?,  7-8 April 2017, King's College London 

Call for Papers

Keynote speekers

Benjamin De Cleen (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

Dani Filc (Ben-Gurion University)

Over the past few years, it has become evident that populism forms a central part of contemporary political landscapes worldwide. In Europe, North and South America, populist narratives are gaining political traction as shown by a multitude of examples from Podemos and the 5 Star Movement to Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. Simultaneously, we have also witnessed an increased importance of and focus on the nation state. This has, in turn, signified an increased critique against political projects which challenge the nation state, such as the European Union or other international or supranational organisations.

In addition, this critique emanates from both sides of the political spectrum, where resistance against neoliberal globalisation is rife. On the right, we are witnessing a questioning of globalisation as open borders, whereas on the left, the critiques against global capital are abundant.

This workshop seeks to gather researchers with an interest in the interactions, possibilities, and tensions between populist politics and rejections of globalisation, between populism and nationalism in their different forms and articulations.

We are looking for abstracts which engage with the question of populist politics from either a theoretical, empirical, or methodological perspective. We welcome scholars and practitioners from a range of field including, but not limited to, electoral politics, political theory and philosophy, and social movement studies. In particular, we are interested in papers which investigate the relationship between populist projects and trans-, inter-, or supra-national organisations and initiatives. Exploring the relationship between populism on a national level and the international setting is one of the key aims of this workshop.


Full programme

Friday, 7 April

10:30am – 12:00pm | Panel 1  

Chair: Yannis Stavrakakis (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)  


1:30 – 3:00pm | First Keynote Address  


3:30 – 5:00pm | Panel 2  

Chair: Emmy Eklundh (King’s College London)  


Saturday, 8 April

10:00 – 11:30am | Panel 3  

Chair: Andy Knott (University of Brighton)  


11:45am – 1:15pm | Second Keynote Address  


2:15 – 3:45pm | Panel 4  

Chair: Emmy Eklundh (King’s College London)