Main Funded Research Projects

Selection

L’action climatique à l’ère du populisme : comprendre et surmonter le clivage au Canada

2026-2028, 36 months

Subventions Savoir, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, (CAN $ 124.200). Main applicant: Alexandre Gajevic Sayegh (University Laval), Oscar Mazzoleni, co-investigator

Populism and Conspiracy in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Linking Discourses and Attitudes in Four European Countries

2022 – 2026 (48 months)

SNF, Swiss national Foundation, Project, Division 1 – Lead agency, with FWF – Austrian Science Fund(total amount CHF 1.150.000).
Main applicant : Mazzoleni Oscar, University of Lausanne
Other partners : Reinhard Heinisch, University of Salzburg

In recent years, right-wing populist radical parties (PRRP) have enjoyed increasing success in European political systems, largely thanks to their calls for limiting immigration and fighting globalization. However, PRRPs have also adapted to a changing context by using new issues to strengthen their success and reformulate their agenda. In an era defined as “post-truth”, where personal beliefs and emotions are often more persuasive than objective facts, PRRPs could be expected to politicize crucial issues in today’s democracies in their discourse by using conspiracy theories. The COVID-19 pandemic represents a relevant testing ground in this respect, and is expected to remain so in the future. The aim of this research project is to bridge populism and conspiracy theories to understand the politicisation of COVID-19. In order to pursue this goal, the project will link two dimensions: (a), the analysis of populist radical-right discourse in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, to understand whether and to what extent conspiracy theories are present in their discourse and how the discursive claims are constructed; (b) the analysis of the conspiratorial beliefs and ideas among the public and their determinants, as well as the relationship between such conspiratorial ideas, on the one hand, and populist attitudes and support for populist parties, on the other hand. The project focuses four countries – Switzerland, Austria, Italy and France – where such parties have been long established and particularly successful but differ in relevance in their respective political system.

SNF Project, Division 1 – Lead agency, with Luxembourg Research Fund (total amount CHF 734.000).

Main applicant: Oscar Mazzoleni

Other applicant: Christian Lamour (Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research)

The goal of this research project is to focus on the right-wing populist discourse (RPD) in European cross-border regions. RPD has increasingly interested scholars in political science and political communication, but mainly at the state- national scale. A limited number of studies on discourse produced by right-wing populist actors in the borderland regions of Europe have been published. As one of the tenets of right-wing populist parties is state re-bordering, we consider that RPD and its mass-mediated representation at this spatial scale deserves specific research attention. The project will be structured around the three following research questions: 1) Is there a RPD which is specific to European border regions characterized by cross-border economic interdependence? 2) Is there a convergence of RPD at the scale of European cross-border regions? 3) Do the mass media located in Europe borderlands promote right-wing populism? Trying to fill the gap in the above-mentioned issues and questions, this project follows a comparative approach focusing on four different case studies where successful right-wing populist parties have arisen in the last two decades. Three of them directly involve Switzerland and its neighbouring French and Italian regions: the areas centred on Geneva, Basel and Ticino. The fourth one involves Luxembourg and the nearby French region. This research takes place in a broader European context in which mass media and right-wing populist parties embedded in specific state-bounded territories are prone to produce discourse on the European integration process at different spatial scales. Some broader aspects of bordering and rebordering processes, in connection with populism, can also be focused in the CROSS-POP project to better approach the situation in the cross-border regions of Europe.

Urban Transformations and Local Political Elites. A Comparative Study among four Swiss Cities

The project aims to contribute to a better knowledge of the profile of elected representatives in Swiss cities. To what extent do social, urban, institutional, and political changes affect the profile of the elected representatives? To what extent is possible to observe an increasing democratization and professionalization? For each of the municipalities involved (Zurich, Lausanne, Luzern, Lugano), we will analyze the characteristics of the elected representatives (age, educational background, profession, gender, and political longevity) in executive and legislative bodies in the period between 1946 and 2016. Adopting a comparative approach and a prosopographic perspective, the project will address change and persistence dealing with the urban transformations, institutional patterns and party dynamics.