Periodic Reporting for period 2 - DEMOS (Democratic Efficacy and the Varieties of Populism in Europe)
Berichtszeitraum: 2019-12-01 bis 2022-05-31
The DEMOS assumes that populism is symptomatic of a disconnect between how democratic polities operate and how citizens perceive their aspirations, needs and identities within the political system. DEMOS explores the value of ‘democratic efficacy’ as the condition of political engagement needed to address the challenge of populism—the concept combines attitudinal features (political efficacy), political skills, knowledge, and democratic opportunity structures.
DEMOS addresses hitherto under-researched aspects of populism at micro-, meso-, and macro-levels: its socio-psychological roots, social actors’ responses to the populist challenge, and populist governance. DEMOS focuses not only on the polity, but also on citizens’ perspectives: how they are affected by and react to populism. Attention is given to groups under-represented in politics or targeted by populist politics (e.g. the youth, women, and immigrants. As populism has varying socially embedded manifestations, DEMOS contextualises it through the comparative analysis of the variety of populisms across Europe, including their historical, cultural, and socio-economic roots, manifestations and impacts. DEMOS develops indicators and predictors of populism and elaborates scenarios on its interactions with social actors and institutions both at the national and the EU levels.
The importance of the project stems from the spread of populist sentiments and politics across Europe and the potentially negative impact it has on society. Populism fosters social polarisation by nurturing an essentially Manichean world view, dividing the society into ‘Us’ and ‘Them’—which is prone to weaken social cohesion. The political logic of populism is about unmediated, un-institutionalised support from the people towards the leaders—populism tends to undermine the institutions and legitimacy of liberal democracies and the rule of law. Populism spreads distrust towards mainstream politics and conspiracy theories—therefore damages social cooperation and the ideal of informed citizenship. Yet, the impact of populism should not be conceived only in negative terms but rather regarded as an alarm, signalling problems about how politics work and why social integration is at risk. Analysing populism should shed light on how our societies work; what social problems are to be addressed and how.
DEMOS is:
a. Developing recommendations on legal, institutional and policy reforms to strengthen democratic efficacy based also on the role of institutional contexts in either providing opportunities for, or constraining populism.
b. Studying the role of schools, education systems, and educational materials in reinforcing or damaging democratic efficacy through reactions to populism in the classroom—accounting for coping strategies and practical solutions by principals, teachers and youth organisations.
c. Developing tools and projects susceptible to increase democratic efficacy and address populism in terms of deliberative settings, media-use and informational efficacy, identity-reinforcement and emotion-management, including role-playing, educational resources on building resilience against fake news, and developing political skills that help deal with policy issues.
d. Developing communication platforms with stakeholders: gathering (in a bottom-up approach) and sharing best practices, successful coping strategies and disseminating the project to a variety of stakeholders, including the scientific community, policymakers, journalists and the public.
e. Elaborating the concept of democratic efficacy, including possible indicators to measure it, and its relation to populism and the implications stemming from this relationship.
f. Contributing to the academic literature on populism particularly in the fields of the psychology of populism; social interpretations of, and reactions to, populism; and populist governance.
DEMOS addresses hitherto under-researched aspects of populism at micro-, meso-, and macro-levels: its socio-psychological roots, social actors’ responses to the populist challenge, and populist governance. DEMOS focuses not only on the polity, but also on citizens’ perspectives: how they are affected by and react to populism. Attention is given to groups under-represented in politics or targeted by populist politics (e.g. the youth, women, and immigrants. As populism has varying socially embedded manifestations, DEMOS contextualises it through the comparative analysis of the variety of populisms across Europe, including their historical, cultural, and socio-economic roots, manifestations and impacts. DEMOS develops indicators and predictors of populism and elaborates scenarios on its interactions with social actors and institutions both at the national and the EU levels.
The importance of the project stems from the spread of populist sentiments and politics across Europe and the potentially negative impact it has on society. Populism fosters social polarisation by nurturing an essentially Manichean world view, dividing the society into ‘Us’ and ‘Them’—which is prone to weaken social cohesion. The political logic of populism is about unmediated, un-institutionalised support from the people towards the leaders—populism tends to undermine the institutions and legitimacy of liberal democracies and the rule of law. Populism spreads distrust towards mainstream politics and conspiracy theories—therefore damages social cooperation and the ideal of informed citizenship. Yet, the impact of populism should not be conceived only in negative terms but rather regarded as an alarm, signalling problems about how politics work and why social integration is at risk. Analysing populism should shed light on how our societies work; what social problems are to be addressed and how.
DEMOS is:
a. Developing recommendations on legal, institutional and policy reforms to strengthen democratic efficacy based also on the role of institutional contexts in either providing opportunities for, or constraining populism.
b. Studying the role of schools, education systems, and educational materials in reinforcing or damaging democratic efficacy through reactions to populism in the classroom—accounting for coping strategies and practical solutions by principals, teachers and youth organisations.
c. Developing tools and projects susceptible to increase democratic efficacy and address populism in terms of deliberative settings, media-use and informational efficacy, identity-reinforcement and emotion-management, including role-playing, educational resources on building resilience against fake news, and developing political skills that help deal with policy issues.
d. Developing communication platforms with stakeholders: gathering (in a bottom-up approach) and sharing best practices, successful coping strategies and disseminating the project to a variety of stakeholders, including the scientific community, policymakers, journalists and the public.
e. Elaborating the concept of democratic efficacy, including possible indicators to measure it, and its relation to populism and the implications stemming from this relationship.
f. Contributing to the academic literature on populism particularly in the fields of the psychology of populism; social interpretations of, and reactions to, populism; and populist governance.
Working on many disciplinary fields, DEMOS has produced a wide array of research:
- Conceptualisation of the populist phenomena building on the analytical contrasts of social/cultural varieties vs. common psychological foundations of populism; citizen vs. institutional perspectives; populism as a given context (‘Zeitgeist’) vs. populism in action; ‘bad’ vs. ‘good’ populism.
- Development of the new concept of ‘democratic efficacy’ which builds on the well-known concept of political efficacy, but supplements it with further dimensions, like political skills and values; and places it into the media and political context in which the citizen operates. Besides the theoretical contribution some preliminary empirical work has been carried out to test its robustness relevance.
- A large international on-line survey to test some hypotheses on the emotional grounding of populist sentiments. Results suggest that populism may indeed have some emotional roots, but—contrary to previous findings—the relevant emotion is not fear, but rather anger.
- A major, comparative analysis of populist parties and politicians on the social media, shedding light on the construction of populist discourses.
- Gathering a large number of case studies on populist parties across Europe, dividing them into different political categories, for analysis.
- Conceptualisation of populist governance, to be validated through studies.
- Analysing the institutional context of populism and how it may affect constitutional and juridical concepts and processes. DEMOS is elaborating the idea of constitutional populism.
Besides an interactive website, DEMOS constantly communicates with the public. It has social media profiles on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Anchor, and researchers have been involved in over 40 scientific activities.
- Conceptualisation of the populist phenomena building on the analytical contrasts of social/cultural varieties vs. common psychological foundations of populism; citizen vs. institutional perspectives; populism as a given context (‘Zeitgeist’) vs. populism in action; ‘bad’ vs. ‘good’ populism.
- Development of the new concept of ‘democratic efficacy’ which builds on the well-known concept of political efficacy, but supplements it with further dimensions, like political skills and values; and places it into the media and political context in which the citizen operates. Besides the theoretical contribution some preliminary empirical work has been carried out to test its robustness relevance.
- A large international on-line survey to test some hypotheses on the emotional grounding of populist sentiments. Results suggest that populism may indeed have some emotional roots, but—contrary to previous findings—the relevant emotion is not fear, but rather anger.
- A major, comparative analysis of populist parties and politicians on the social media, shedding light on the construction of populist discourses.
- Gathering a large number of case studies on populist parties across Europe, dividing them into different political categories, for analysis.
- Conceptualisation of populist governance, to be validated through studies.
- Analysing the institutional context of populism and how it may affect constitutional and juridical concepts and processes. DEMOS is elaborating the idea of constitutional populism.
Besides an interactive website, DEMOS constantly communicates with the public. It has social media profiles on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Anchor, and researchers have been involved in over 40 scientific activities.
DEMOS provides new insights into better understanding populism:
- the political psychology of populism. Political psychology is an emerging field and studying the role of emotions in grounding populist sentiments is new.
- populism in governance and policy making. Political science has largely neglected to study how populist politicians and parties govern; what is their distinct governance style; what is the content of their policies; and what are the effects of their governance. DEMOS will provide new models and empirical findings of populist governance and policy making at both the national and subnational levels; and also the policy conflicts at the EU level.
- populism in law; constitutional populism; the effect of populism on the judiciary. Populism is an under-researched topic in legal studies. DEMOS will provide an account of the populist influence on law and legal procedures at different levels.
- democratic efficacy and populism. DEMOS is elaborating a new concept, 'democratic efficacy', which may help better understand the interactions between populism and democratic discontent; and provide new insights into democratic action.
DEMOS will shed light on the effects of populism at the micro level (citizens, social groups targeted by populist politics, journalists and teachers) and the reactions to it and the ‘best practices’ to cope with the populist challenge. DEMOS will contribute not only to a better understanding of the populist phenomenon, but also to designing institutions, practices and tools to effectively address the populist challenge. DEMOS has just finished the first year of its activities, and yet has reached a public of around 5000 people through online channels and scientific events.
- the political psychology of populism. Political psychology is an emerging field and studying the role of emotions in grounding populist sentiments is new.
- populism in governance and policy making. Political science has largely neglected to study how populist politicians and parties govern; what is their distinct governance style; what is the content of their policies; and what are the effects of their governance. DEMOS will provide new models and empirical findings of populist governance and policy making at both the national and subnational levels; and also the policy conflicts at the EU level.
- populism in law; constitutional populism; the effect of populism on the judiciary. Populism is an under-researched topic in legal studies. DEMOS will provide an account of the populist influence on law and legal procedures at different levels.
- democratic efficacy and populism. DEMOS is elaborating a new concept, 'democratic efficacy', which may help better understand the interactions between populism and democratic discontent; and provide new insights into democratic action.
DEMOS will shed light on the effects of populism at the micro level (citizens, social groups targeted by populist politics, journalists and teachers) and the reactions to it and the ‘best practices’ to cope with the populist challenge. DEMOS will contribute not only to a better understanding of the populist phenomenon, but also to designing institutions, practices and tools to effectively address the populist challenge. DEMOS has just finished the first year of its activities, and yet has reached a public of around 5000 people through online channels and scientific events.