Maria Snegovaya Speaks on Populism in Europe

Maria Snegovaya, a PPE Postdoctoral Fellow at the Kellogg Center for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, will give a talk on the topic “Has the Populist Right Replaced the Left? The Demise of the Center-Left and the Rise of the Populist Right in Postcommunist Europe.”

The talk will take place on October 7, 2020, from 4-5:30pm via Zoom (Meeting ID: 917 2939 7739). This talk is restricted to Virginia Tech users. Please log into Zoom with your Virginia Tech email address.

The talk is tailored to appeal to both students and faculty, with plenty of time for discussion and interaction with the guest speaker. You are cordially invited to attend.

Here is the abstract of the talk: The rise and spread of populist right parties in Europe has become a defining feature of the present political moment while the extremist nature of these parties often threatens the integrity of European democracies. In addition to the rise and spread of populist right over the last decade, center-left parties in the region have experienced a dramatic drop in their support and have, as a result, faced their demise. This raises the question: were the fortunes of these two political forces in any way intertwined? This paper demonstrates that the rise of right-wing populism in postcommunist Europe was in part driven by the implementation of pro-market reforms by ex-Communist left parties, which resulted in their subsequent decline. It also lays out the extensive parallels in the unraveling of similar processes in Western and postcommunist Europe.

About 65 faculty members and students attended the talk. Here is a Zoom snapshot.