The Multidimensionality of Party-Based Populism and the Dynamics of Polarization

This panel aims to highlight the theoretical and empirical relevance of populism as a multidimensional concept. In recent years, an increasing body of literature has highlighted the diversity of phenomena related to populism across different times and regions (e.g. Diehl and Bargetz 2024). This stream avoids minimal definitions based on rigid and univocal dimensions which often struggle to account for regional and continental specificities. Instead, populism can be viewed as an open concept with multiple and changing dimensions that intersects with other significant concepts and dimensions in social and political sciences, such as polarization. It would therefore be both useful and promising for future research to explore the connection between the Manichean logic—often identified as a core dimension of populism, which opposes "friends" and "enemies"—and the dynamics of polarization in electoral campaigning and party communication.
This panel welcomes empirical analyses employing various definitions of populism (e.g., as a strategy, style, logic, discourse, and/or ideology), with a particular focus on party-based mobilization in contemporary democratic regimes.