Projects
SNSF Projects
The Right-Wing Populist Discourse in European Cross-Border Areas. A comparison between Switzerland and Luxembourg (CROSS-POP)
2019 - 2023 (48 mois)
Applicant : Oscar Mazzoleni
Other partners : Christian Lamour - LISER - Luxembourg
The goal of this research project is to focus on the right-wing populist discourse (RPD) in European cross-border regions. RPD has increasingly interested scholars in political science and political communication, but mainly at the state- national scale. A limited number of studies on discourse produced by right-wing populist actors in the borderland regions of Europe have been published. As one of the tenets of right-wing populist parties is state re-bordering, we consider that RPD and its mass-mediated representation at this spatial scale deserves specific research attention. The project will be structured around the three following research questions: 1) Is there a RPD which is specific to European border regions characterized by cross-border economic interdependence? 2) Is there a convergence of RPD at the scale of European cross- border regions? 3) Do the mass media located in Europe borderlands promote right-wing populism? Trying to fill the gap in the above-mentioned issues and questions, this project follows a comparative approach focusing on four different case studies where successful right-wing populist parties have arisen in the last two decades. Three of them directly involve Switzerland and its neighbouring French and Italian regions: the areas centred on Geneva, Basel and Ticino. The fourth one involves Luxembourg and the nearby French region.
Populism and Conspiracy in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Linking Discourses and Attitudes in Four European Countries
2022 - 2026 (48 mois)
Applicant : Mazzoleni Oscar
Other partners : Reinhard Heinisch
In recent years, right-wing populist radical parties (PRRP) have enjoyed increasing success in European political systems, largely thanks to their calls for limiting immigration and fighting globalization. However, PRRPs have also adapted to a changing context by using new issues to strengthen their success and reformulate their agenda. In an era defined as "post-truth", where personal beliefs and emotions are often more persuasive than objective facts, PRRPs could be expected to politicize crucial issues in today's democracies in their discourse by using conspiracy theories. The COVID-19 pandemic represents a relevant testing ground in this respect, and is expected to remain so in the future. The aim of this research project is to bridge populism and conspiracy theories to understand the politicisation of COVID-19. In order to pursue this goal, the project will link two dimensions: (a), the analysis of populist radical-right discourse in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, to understand whether and to what extent conspiracy theories are present in their discourse and how the discursive claims are constructed; (b) the analysis of the conspiratorial beliefs and ideas among the public and their determinants, as well as the relationship between such conspiratorial ideas, on the one hand, and populist attitudes and support for populist parties, on the other hand. The project focuses four countries - Switzerland, Austria, Italy and France - where such parties have been long established and particularly successful but differ in relevance in their respective political system.
Other Projects
République et Canton du Tessin
2011 - 2023
grant-giving organisation : Canton du Tessin (Switzerland)
Applicant : Oscar Mazzoleni
Contracts and Mandates
Survey on the citizen relationship toward institutions, territory and and communal merging
2012 - 2012
grant-giving organisation : Commune de Lugano (Switzerland)
Applicant : Oscar Mazzoleni
Other partners : Andrea Plata
Survey on broadcast law voted in June 2015: opinions and attitudes by Swiss italians
2015 - 2015
grant-giving organisation : SSR-RSI (Switzerland)
Applicant : Oscar Mazzoleni
Other partners : Andrea Pilotti
