Social Science Perspectives on the Far-right
In this free, in-person talk, Aurelien Mondon and Sofia Vasilopoulou will discuss the rise and mainstreaming of far-right politics in the UK and Europe. In the current political climate, the rise of far-right movements across the world presents a complex challenge to liberal democracies. Figures like Javier Milei in Argentina and Geert Wilders in the Netherlands symbolize the growing appeal of such ideologies, raising significant concerns about the health of democratic systems and the well-being of diverse communities. In this event, Aurelien Mondon and Sofia Vasilopoulou will discuss the dynamics fuelling the rise of the far-right in the UK and Europe and the broader implications for society.
The event, one of the quarterly Social Science Perspectives co-hosted by the Campaign for Social Science, The Conversation, and Sage, features food, drinks, and the opportunity to connect with interesting people from across media, academia, policy, publishing, and tech. Please note that it is in-person and will not be livestreamed.
Speakers
Aurelien Mondon is a senior lecturer in politics at the University of Bath. His research focuses predominantly on the impact of racism and populism on liberal democracies and the mainstreaming of far-right politics through elite discourse. His first book, The Mainstreaming of the Extreme Right in France and Australia: A Populist Hegemony?, was published in 2013 and he recently co-edited After Charlie Hebdo: Terror, racism and free speech, published with Zed. Reactionary democracy: How racism and the populist far right became mainstream, co-written with Aaron Winter, was published with Verso in 2020. The Ethics of Researching the Far Right, co-edited with Antonia Vaughan, Joan Braune and Meghan Tinsley will be out in March 2024 with Manchester University Press.
Sofia Vasilopoulou is a professor of European politics in the Department of European and International Studies at Kings College London. She is also an honorary professor at the University of York and editor-in-chief of the European Journal of Political Research. Vasilopoulou has published extensively in the fields of electoral politics, public opinion, and party politics. She studies the causes and consequences of political dissatisfaction among the public and the ways in which this is channelled through party strategies and party competition. The findings of her research feed into debates about democratic legitimacy, accountability and representation in Europe and the European Union. She has authored Far Right Parties and Euroscepticism: Patterns of Opposition (ECPR Press and Rowman & Littlefield 2018) and co-authored The Golden Dawn’s Nationalist Solution: Explaining the rise of the far right in Greece (Palgrave Macmillan 2015 with Daphne Halikiopoulou).
