DEMOS Leader Zsolt Boda Says "Populism Challenges Institutions of Liberal Democracies"

Populism is a complex term usually carrying a negative connotation, often associated with leaders who criticize the elite—be it political, academic or scientific—that their citizens view, and react to, with skepticism. Scholars have tried to define the term and label parties and politicians as such, but the H2020 Research and Innovation Action project DEMOS seeks to go beyond that, taking into account both the individual level, psychological roots of populist attitudes and describing the features and consequences of populist governance. In an interview for the Hungarian radio channel Civil Rádió on March 6Zsolt Boda, the leader of DEMOS, spoke about the goals of the project. One of them is to cover populism through multiple manifestations across Europe and beyond, shedding light on its varieties, how populism relates to specific cultural contexts, and how different social actors react to the challenges of populism.

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About our Institute

The primary objective of the Institute for Political Science of MTA Centre for Social Sciences is to conduct basic research in political science. Researchers at the Institute conduct both theoretical and empirical research, and the results are disseminated to both the academic and general public at scientific and professional forums.

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Publication Scholarship Prize 2021

We are happy to present the winners of the Publication Scholarship Prize 2021: Ágnes Virág (Eszterházy Károly University) with the manuscript ‘Emotional Parliamentary Lions: Evaluative Metonymy Complexes in Editorial Cartoons” (supervisor: Márton Bene) and Szabolcs Hadászi (Corvinus University) on the topic ‘The relationship between voting and trust in Hungary’ (supervisor: Zsolt Boda).

CfP - Challenges of Democratic Innovations in Europe (Research Workshop)

CfP - Challenges of Democratic Innovations in Europe (Research Workshop)

In democratic political systems, the main actors of representative democracy are party leaders, elected parliamentarians, and cabinet members. In addition to these, there are other ways of decision-making in a democratic political system such as participatory and deliberative democracy. These involve citizens and non-governmental organizations that aim to improve the social acceptance and effectiveness of political decisions. Research on democratic innovations focuses on successful practices and methods aimed at changing democratic governance and political structures to improve them. Such innovations range from direct democracy (e.g. referendums, agenda initiatives, recall) to deliberative practices (e.g. deliberative polling, consultative mini-publics, participatory budgeting etc.) in offline and online settings.

 

 

 

 

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