About this episode
Laurenz Guenther discusses his research on the rise of populism in Europe and its connection to immigration and political representation gaps.
Laurenz Guenther ( X , website ) is a Research Fellow at the Toulouse School of Economics. He joins the podcast to discuss his working paper, “Political Representation Gaps and Populism.” Relying on survey data of politicians and regular citizens across the EU, he finds a simple explanation for the rise of populism across the continent. Politicians are one standard deviation to the left of the public on social issues. As Guenther points out, the gap is larger than the difference between the typical communist and conservative MP. Immigrants are more conservative on migration and assimilation issues than politicians. These are quite remarkable findings, and must be factored into any understanding of contemporary European politics. Beginning in the 2010s, the salience of the immigration issue took off. Voters have been flocking to populist candidates as a result ever since. As much as many academics and political leaders would like to deny this fact, this provides the most straightforward explanation for recent trends. The conversation focuses on what to make of the data. Does this mean that to defeat populism, all politicians have to do is become more restrictionist? How does this…
People in this episode
Guest: Laurenz Guenther
Topics covered
- populism
- immigration
- political representation
- European politics
- survey data
- political trends
Keywords
- populism
- immigration
- political representation
- EU survey data
- European politics
- political trends
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Toulouse School of Economics
Books & works: Political Representation Gaps and Populism
Places: EU, Europe
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