Schmidt Publishes Article on Populism in Europe
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, published an article in the Journal of European Integration on the rise of populism.
Based on research conducted as part of her Guggenheim Fellowship, Schmidt’s article – “The discursive construction of discontent: varieties of populist anti-system ideas and discursive interactions in Europe” – builds on existing scholarship on populism while shifting the lens to focus on the ideational and discursive dynamics of populist power. Schmidt uses the discursive institutionalist framework of analysis to consider the four main features of the discursive construction of populism – the message, the messenger, the medium, and the milieu. Her piece not only considers the rise of populist anti-system parties in European countries but also the special challenges this poses for the European Union.
The full article can be read on the Journal of European Integration‘s website.
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.