Research Assistant: Agenda of Alternative Political Movements in Europe and Their Transatlantic Impact

Introduction to the topic

This research project seeks to analyse alternative political movements’ international agenda and rhetorics in Germany, Poland and Hungary. Alternative political movements in Europe have been a phenomenon affecting countries with both established and relatively fresh democratic institutions. Their rise has been exponential over the last 20 years due to such developments as the global economic crisis, increased migration pressure, growing wealth disproportion and fear of new social and cultural phenomena. There are, however, also country- and region-specific reasons for the rise of such movements, rooted in history, culture and political institutions.

Project details

In pursuing this research, we will focus on how alternative political movements in Germany, Poland, and Hungary articulate their international agenda and rhetoric. It will also look at the United States as a transatlantic reference point and Denmark as a country where mainstream political parties have managed to keep their contestants at bay, albeit at a cost. We will embark on understanding how such process was possible.

In all of these countries, such movements have sought to challenge established political practices. In Germany, new actors on the federal political scene emerged largely from the long-term pains of incorporation of the German Democratic Republic by the Federal Republic of Germany, often euphemistically referred to as unification. In Poland or Hungary, the transition from communism and centrally planned economy to democracy and free market, the latter based on Washington Consensus policies, left millions of people bitter, making them turn their eyes to alternative narratives. In the U.S., they contribute to high polarization levels, threatening the checks and balances system and other governance practices forged across more than 250 years.

As part of our research activities, we will also look at broader inspirations for alternative movements in the mentioned countries, provided by external actors, such as Russia with its so-called neo conservative ideology. Conceived to cement the oligarcho-kleptocratic system, it became an important tool in Russia’s international agenda and has resonated among alternative political movements in many a country.

The project will employ a cross-disciplinary approach, linking political studies, cultural studies and sociology with memory studies, history and media studies.

As the research project progresses, there will be opportunities to publish the results in New Eastern Europe bimonthly (www.neweasterneurope.eu). Exceptionally dedicated and engaged students may be offered co-authorship, as determined by Miłosz Cordes.

Faculty

Milosz Jeromin Cordes

Faculty

PhD (Cultural Studies, SWPS University, Warsaw 2017), MA (East-European Cultural Studies, University of Warsaw 2012), MA (International Relations, University of Warsaw & St. Petersburg State University, 2012), BA (History, University of Warsaw 2011), BA (International Relations, University of Warsaw 2010). Research Fellow at the Danish Foreign Policy Society (2021), Post-Doc Researcher at Lund University (2021). Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Fellow (2006). Vice-Consul at Poland’s Consulate General in Kaliningrad (2018-2021), Second Secretary at Poland’s Permanent Representation to the European Union (2016-2018), Second Secretary & Specialist at Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ (2012-2016). With DIS since 2021.

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