The populist movement, the withdrawal of liberal democracy and the crisis of the rule of law in the European Union

NORFACE, head of the Polish Research Team prof. dr hab. Barbara Blaszczyk

The aim of the project is to informally support strategies aimed at increasing democratic resistance against populism by studying the mechanisms by which "exclusive populists" strengthen their power by undermining the rule of law in the areas of law, economy and media. The project also seeks to identify defensive strategies used by social actors exposed to exclusionary populism. Using an interdisciplinary approach combining studies in the field of political economy, law, management and media, we intend to compare countries: Austria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Great Britain and Turkey, which have all experienced some degree of populism. In addition to providing publications with a high social impact, the results of the intended work are expected to provide concrete solutions to the challenges of democratic governance. The project also includes a large part devoted to the active dissemination of the knowledge gathered in it. The project consists of five departments (Workpackages). The Polish part of the project is part of the second "workpackage", concerning the political economy of the withdrawal of liberal democracy and the rise of populism. In these works, we will apply a comparative approach analyzing the impact of the changing business environment on the behavior of enterprises in the analyzed countries. Field research will be carried out in enterprises on the relationship between the state and the economy in the conditions of growing authoritarianism and populism. In particular, the mutual penetration of the state and business spheres, as well as the public and private spheres in the economy, will be monitored. In interviews with business managers, we will also be interested in the defense and adaptation mechanisms of business in relation to the changing regulatory and political environment. The research will be carried out in twenty enterprises using the in-depth, partially structured interview method. Polish project participants will participate in the stage of conceptualization of empirical research for the entire project, in the development of detailed research methods, they will also participate in supervising field research and developing the results of these studies, both at the national and comparative level for the entire project, and in writing partial reports and final report.