Funding: OTKA
Duration: October 1, 2018 – September 30, 2021 (35 months)

How do populist policies come up, develop, and last beyond populist regimes? Grounded in the premises that populists’ narratives take a negative stance toward corrupt establishments, unpopular minorities, and are channeled to the ordinary good people, the project “Populism in policy-making and law-making” aims at revealing the main features of centrist populist regimes and policy mechanisms put forward by governing populist parties, a topic that hasn’t been explored yet.

Led by the researcher Zsolt Boda, the project uses mixed methods. Quantitative data analysis will bring answers to questions pertaining electorates’ perceptions through the European Social Survey. A qualitative approach aims to analyze how law-making processes play out in these populist arrangements. 

The research is timely because it pictures an emerging reality: new types of populist governance arrangements have emerged in the European landscape. Hungary is an example. By shedding light on the populism phenomena in East-Central European countries, the research is key to understanding the weight and the effects of populism in traditional governance structures and policy processes. Academic wise, the project will result in journal articles at highly ranked international journals besides conference presentations.  

Principal investigator (PI):

Zsolt Boda  Director-General Researcher profile page   Contact the PI