Category: Research

I recently attended a conference comparing the effects of the financial crisis for populism in 12 European countries. One of many debates regarded the role of populism in a democracy – is it a threat to liberal democracy or a productive force? Populism wants the general will of the people to be turned into political decisions as directly as possible, and is thus hostile towards the checks and balances of liberal democracy and expertise in government. By this simplistic view of how decisions should be made, it offers the people inflated promises which might prove difficult to keep in the long run. On the other hand, however, it can increase citizens’ interest, understanding and influence in politics – a good thing, for most believers in democracy.

So populism has its up- and downsides. However, it seems that context matters tremendously for which of them end up weighing more. Populism affects the functioning of democracy very differently in different democracies. Continue reading Populism – Threat or opportunity?

Välillä suomeksikin: pidin “Populismi liikkeenä ja retoriikkana” -tutkimusprojektin väelle Jyväskylän yliopistolla 11.1.2013 lyhyen esityksen gradustani ja väitöskirjani lähtöasetelmasta, jota seurasi mainio keskustelu tuttuuden ja yleisyyden tasoista politiikassa. Continue reading Populismi suomalaisen poliittisen kulttuurin kontekstissa

Gladly, I’ve received funding for the year 2013 from the Kone Foundation to start off my PhD work on the Finns Party, Finnish political culture and populism. This means I’ll start working on the study in January. Still waiting for information about an office space – hopefully with other political sociology researchers at the University.

My research proposal can be found here (4-page PDF), though it will very likely be altered to some extent once I get the work going. However, many issues such as the connection between gender and conservative politics do interest me and will likely be part of the research. Additionally, I hope to be part of developing a framework of analyzing populism via Laurent Thévenot’s sociology of engagements.

I’ll also be presenting my work at a seminar, “On Populism and on Politics” on the 18th of December, 2012 (next week’s Tuesday!). I’m preparing slides that will present what I’ve done so far in a condensed form, so I’ll upload them here after the event.