Panel title: “POPULISM, ANTI-POPULISM, AND THE EU”

Chair: Carlo Ruzza
Discussants: Hans-Joerg Trenz

Populism scholarship is fast gaining momentum in social and political sciences. However, less attention has been paid to the relationship between populist politics, EU institutions, and EU Civil Society.
While populism has been analysed from a variety of perspectives and methodologies, the scholarship has particularly focused on national and cross national cases, rather than on its European dimension. This panel aims to discuss how populist forces are impacting and reshaping EU institutions, civil society, and the representations and public debate that surround the European Union. We welcome papers that focus on different dimensions of this topic, such as:
• The impact of populism on European institutions, in terms of discourses, practices, and policy making;
• The relationships and interactions between populism and European organised civil society;
• How political forces at EU level are re-organizing themselves to face the challenge of populism;
• How populism is reshaping the public debate about the European Union, and what strategies non-populist and anti-populist forces apply to react to populism;
• How the rise of populist forces has shaped citizens’ perception of the EU and its institutions.
• Innovative theoretical perspectives on populism and its relationship with the EU.
• How to disentangle the relationship between populist and nationalist politics, within the EU insittutions and across Europe more broadly.

The panel aims at representing a forum of debate over the dynamics and consequences of populism for the EU, and how political forces and civil society should face this challenge. Papers that assess the relationship between populism and the EU from different theoretical and methodological perspectives are particularly welcome.
Submit all paper proposals to paolo.cossarini@unitn.it by Friday, October 18 2019