POPREP · Eurosceptic Populist Party Organization and Representation: A Comparative Study

This proposal can be summed up under the following two headings 'Project' and 'Training'. While separate here for clarity, the conduct and success of each is essentially intertwined with - and dependent on - the other:(1) PROJECT: The project analyzes party organization and representation in six Eurosceptic populist parties: the Northern League (Italy), Sinn Féin (Ireland), the Swiss People's Party (Switzerland), Front National (France), the Danish People's Party (Denmark) and the Socialist Party (Netherlands). No comparative indepth study of this type, depth and breadth currently exists. The approach taken is conceptually innovative, methodologically interdisciplinary and theoretically ambitious. It answers calls for empirical research on populism by scholars and by the European Union itself (Work Programme, 2010). The research aims to provide the first comparative empirical study to date of Eurosceptic populist organization and representation, in a monograph with a top international publishing house, thus helping me achieve a leading independent academic position and an international profile as a key comparative European politics scholar.(2) TRAINING: Given the ambitions both of this project and my own career goals, high quality training in applied interdisciplinary methods, data analysis and project management are all essential prerequisites. With advice and support from renowned scholars and colleagues at the EUI, the overall aim of this fellowship is to build on my prior research career, but take it now to a far greater level of comparative and theoretical breadth, sophistication and originality thanks to the quality of mentorship, training and international research environment offered by the EUI. Through the skills acquired - and applied in the project - I will mature enormously as a scholar.""