Work Package 2 of the POPULISMUS project, which spanned five (5) months, aimed at the collection of materials from relevant archives, libraries and research centres, the accumulation of field/ground information as well as the establishment of research collaboration with researchers specializing in the target countries of empirical investigation.
It also involved a series of expert interviews as well as interviews with political activists. Members of the team visited countries of Latin America that are considered hotspots of populist mobilizations, like Argentina (peronismo, kirchnerismo) and Venezuela (chavismo); countries of Europe were extreme-right populism flourishes (France, the Netherlands), but also were we have recently witnessed mobilizations of egalitarian, inclusionary populism (France, Spain, the Netherlands); last but not least, a research visit to the United States has been conducted, due its populist tradition from the 19th century, but mainly due to the current resurgence of divergent ‘populist’ mobilizations in the country (Tea Party, Occupy). Moreover, the Greek case was thoroughly investigated through a series of interviews and the collection of materials in Athens, regarding both the populist culture of post-authoritarian Greece and more recent phenomena.
This activity resulted in the assemblage of a significant stock of knowledge on populist phenomena, which will be categorized, organized and analyzed in conjunction with the bibliographical and historical research that has already been conducted within the framework of the project (Work Package 1).