Publications:

2023. "The road to European parliament mandate for populist radical-right parties: selecting the ‘perfect’ AfD candidate". Party Politics 0(0). doi: 10.1177/13540688231173804.

2021. “Internal democracy in populist right parties: the process of party policy development in the Alternative for Germany”. European Political Science Review 13(4): 488–505. doi: 10.1017/S1755773921000217.

2012. “Islam and Politics in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Iran and Turkey”, in Participation, Socialization and Revolution in the Middle East, Lukasz Fyderek (ed), pp. 61–80. Krakow: UNUM Publishing House.

Working Papers:

“Solidarity and Identity Politics: Populist Radical Right Narratives of Ukrainian Refugees." (Under Review)

”Factions and Intra-Party Democracy: Managing Leadership Centralization in Populist Parties.” (Under Review)

“European Foreign and Security Policies under Populist Left and Right Pressures.”

“Diverse Trajectories, One Destination: Why Citizens Become Radical Right Activists?”

“The Role of Local Grievances and Right-Wing Movements in AfD Strongholds.”

My primary research interests are in populism, social movements, and identity politics. My work draws on extensive survey research – in-depth interviews, participant observation of political events, election advertisements, and online databases – and discourse analysis to address essential questions on political participation in times of social and political turmoil.

My book project, Internal Democratic Mechanisms and Grassroots Activism in the Right-wing Populist Party 'Alternative for Germany', seeks to understand the rise of one of the most successful right-wing populist parties in the current wave of anti-establishment politics around the world. The Alternative for Germany has enjoyed consistent electoral success, despite the prevalent culture of contrition preventing the consolidation of the far right in Germany. I show that the AfD’s mechanisms of internal democracy and emphasis on grassroots involvement have helped the party achieve credibility with a large swath of voters and avoid Nazi stigmatization and social exclusion. This argument has theoretical implications for understanding the role of intra-party organization and participatory mechanisms in the success of radical right parties and in explaining the link between populism and the crisis of political representation experienced in many established democracies.

My second project examines the interplay between social movements and populist parties, in particular the influence activists exert on party decisions and the resources they provide for political mobilization. Acknowledging the interactions between non-electoral populist mobilization and political parties adds to the conversation on social movements as essential political agents (Pirro 2019; Della Porta et al. 2017; Kitschelt 2006). Social movements shape party behavior and can act as channels of representation from grassroots activism to party politics. Using Austria, Germany, and France as case studies, I explore the strategies movement actors employ to engage with populist parties, assign issue ownership, and potentially strengthen the parties’ electoral campaigns. I plan to collect data on this question through two principal online sources   (social media accounts and parliamentary questions) and through surveying the activities and experiences of party and movement elites and grassroots activists.

A third project in progress addresses the role of populist discourse on shaping European Union’s migration and security policies. In a response to the 2015 ‘refugee crisis’ and the overwhelming electoral support for populist anti-immigrant parties, the EU President Ursula von der Leyen introduced in 2019 a new immigration portfolio for “protecting our European way of life”. Many populist parties have seen this EU approach as an ideological victory. Focusing on the current Russia-Ukraine War and the influx of asylum seekers to Central and Eastern Europe, I investigate the impact of populist parties in re-drawing the social and imaginative boundaries of belonging. This research looks into populist discourse from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Poland, and examines how these EU members attempt to balance support for Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees with their pro-Russian stance.