Populism vs. technocracy: Investigating Democratic Trade-offs
Name of applicant
Alberte Bové Rud
Title
Postdoctoral Fellow
Institution
Danish Institute for International Studies
Amount
DKK 1,476,000
Year
2025
Type of grant
Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Danish Institute in Rome
What?
The project investigates where power rests in democracy, focusing on the interplay between Italy's populist tendencies and its position amid technocratic structures of the EU. By identifying patterns and shifts in the relationship between populism and technocracy, the project provides a detailed analysis of how political narratives are constructed in opposition and dependence on each other.
Why?
Amid global insecurities, there are tendencies to enlarge the scope of the EU's power, as it has been seen with regards to policies tariffs and defence spendings. At the same time, protests and populist movement counter this development. This study will qualify the ongoing debate, viewing recent developments in Italy as a possible magnifying glass for what is to come.
How?
Studying how Italian politicians engage with and react to the policies of the EU institutions during two key periods of crisis (debt crisis and covid-pandemic), the study assesses how technocracy and populism are mutually constitutive and ontologically dependent. This will be done using discourse analysis and viewing the tendencies as contextually intertwined.