Survival Populism and the Crisis of Belonging in Post-Apartheid South Africa
In this commentary, Dr. Oludele Solaja challenges conventional explanations of xenophobic violence in South Africa by underscoring the concept of...
When Lies Become Political Identity: Populism, Disinformation, and the Emotional Logic of Contemporary Politics
In this commentary, Yacine Boubia examines why political disinformation has become one of the defining challenges of contemporary democratic life....
The End of Inevitability? Hungary and the Future of Far-Right Populism in Central and Eastern Europe
In this commentary, Nikoletta Syvak examines the political and regional implications of Viktor Orbán’s electoral defeat after sixteen years in...
Turkey’s Managed Permanence: Lawfare, Institutional Capture, and the End of Democratic Uncertainty
In this timely and deeply analytical essay, Professor Ibrahim Ozturk examines how Turkey is moving beyond competitive authoritarianism toward what...
Nakba Day in London: The Fight for the Narrative
In this piece, Dr. João Ferreira Dias examines how the Israeli–Palestinian conflict has increasingly been transformed within Europe into a...
Long Read | Explaining Hungary’s Paradox: Péter Magyar as the Insider Challenger to a Hybrid-Authoritarian System
This commentary examines Hungary’s 2026 political rupture through the paradox of Péter Magyar: a former Fidesz insider now positioned as...
Decolonizing Populism Theory: Ecological Crisis, Informal Governance, and Democratic Claims in the Global South
This commentary by Dr. Oludele Solaja advances a compelling decolonial critique of populism by relocating its analytical center from ideology...
Péter Magyar’s Two Early Signals: Migration, Mitteleuropa, and the Rearticulation of Hungarian Nationalism
In this ECPS European Observatory commentary, Dr. João Ferreira Dias offers a theoretically rich analysis of Péter Magyar’s electoral breakthrough,...
‘Ugly, Badly Groomed, and Bitter’: Gendered Delegitimation and Aesthetic Politics
In this incisive analysis, Dr. Gwenaëlle Bauvois interrogates how contemporary far-right discourse mobilizes gendered and aesthetic hierarchies to structure political...
The Ongoing War Between Iran, the US, and Israel: A Brief Analytical Assessment
This commentary by Professor Majid Bozorgmehri situates the 2026 confrontation within a broader matrix of regional rivalry, nuclear deterrence, and...
Security at What Cost? Punitive Populism and Democratic Trade-offs in Ecuador
In this commentary, Emilio Hernández examines Ecuador’s recent security crisis through the lens of punitive populism, offering a nuanced account...
Dismantling an Embedded Autocracy
In this timely and analytically rich commentary, Associate Professor Attila Antal examines the aftermath of Viktor Orbán’s electoral defeat and...