Schmidt Keynotes European Consortium for Political Research Conference
On June 11, 2021, Vivien Schmidt, Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration and Professor of International Relations and Political Science at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, gave a keynote speech on “The Discursive Construction of Discontent: Varieties of Populist Anti-System Ideas and Discursive Networks in Europe” at the European Consortium for Political Research Conference.
Schmidt’s lecture – presented by the Journal of European Integration (JEI) – was based on a paper that will soon be published in JEI. During her address, she discussed the paper that, using discursive institutionalist analysis, theorizes and investigates the varieties of populist anti-system ideas and discursive networks in Europe – with illustrative examples from EU and national level.
An excerpt from the upcoming paper’s abstract can be read below:
Less studied has been the discursive construction of discontent in different institutional contexts over time, including the ideational content of leaders’ unmediated communication and the discursive networks by which their parties coordinate the spread of populist ideas via social media and traditional media while out of power and in power. Using discursive institutionalist analysis, this paper theorizes and investigates the varieties of populist anti-system ideas and discursive networks in Europe, with illustrative examples from EU and national level.
A recording of the lecture can be viewed below.
Vivien Schmidt is Professor of International Relations and Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and was the first Director of BU’s Center for the Study of Europe, housed at the Pardee School. Schmidt’s research focuses on European political economy, institutions, democracy, and political theory—in particular on the importance of ideas and discourse in political analysis. Read more about Professor Schmidt on her faculty profile.