About this Research Topic
The 21st century has seen a global rise in populism, often in conjunction with authoritarian and illiberal political forces that challenge human rights, democracy, and international cooperation. While scholars in International Relations and beyond have increasingly studied populism, its impact on conflict—whether in terms of prevention, onset, perpetuation, transformation, or resolution—remains underexplored.
Both populism and conflict are notoriously difficult to define due to their contested and politically ambiguous nature. Populism, with its diverse expressions in discourse, leadership, and political style, has been framed both as a tool for political inclusion and a distortion of – or threat towards – liberal politics and order. Similarly, conflict has been seen as a driver of social change and a source of violence and institutional deadlock. Examining this highly ambiguous conceptual nexus is crucial, as its impacts are tangible globally, from major theatres of war like Gaza and Ukraine to global trade disputes and political polarization in institutions of regional and global cooperation.
This Research Topic seeks to take stock of and enhance our knowledge about the relationship about populism and conflict, considering diverse disciplinary, conceptual, empirical, normative, and political perspectives. Rather than attempting to reconcile these perspectives or to advocate for a specific position, the goal is to map the various ways in which this conceptual nexus manifests in both contemporary and historical terms. To do so, we invite papers that critically explore populism and conflict across world regions, time, different scales—individual, local, national, regional, and global—and within various institutional contexts, from parliamentary and elite politics and informal political institutions to international organizations, public debates, and transnational actor constellations. By examining the relationship between populism and conflict in these varied contexts, the aim is to uncover important nuances and differences, thus broadening the research agenda to include new challenges, responses, and potentials. Given this strategic openness in both conceptual and empirical focus, we ask that contributions, whether theoretical or empirical in nature, explicitly reflect on their usages of the concepts of populism and conflict, and the forms of their entanglement, highlighting how this entanglement shapes, and is shaped by, specific ideological, political, social, historical, or institutional settings.
Potential themes of contributions include, but are not limited to:
• Theoretical inquiries into the relation between populism and conflict, unpacking analytical, ethical or political dimensions.
• Contemporary violent conflicts and wars, analysing the role of populism in shaping and transforming these conflicts.
• Conflicts in (international) organizations and political institutions, exploring how populist politics affect the contested evolution of these political bodies.
• Populist discourses, analysing how populism narrates and frames political conflicts and violence as well as conflict transformation strategies.
• Populist worldviews, offering close-up portrays of lived populism and the influence of conflict-based ideologies.
• Methodological explorations, assessing how populism as a lens can reveal new insights into conflict and peace, and, vice versa, how peace and conflict studies may help us understand populism as a political phenomenon.
• The rise of illiberal politics, investigating the role of populism in re-configuring political cultures and democracy within and across borders.
• Regional and global security orders, unpacking the impact of populist foreign policies on protracted conflict dynamics.
• Historical studies of populism as a political logic and its role societal struggles over class, identity, and in-equality.
• Comparative history of ideas, analysing how perceptions of populism and conflict have evolved over time, in parallel and as cross-fertilizing concepts.
Both populism and conflict are notoriously difficult to define due to their contested and politically ambiguous nature. Populism, with its diverse expressions in discourse, leadership, and political style, has been framed both as a tool for political inclusion and a distortion of – or threat towards – liberal politics and order. Similarly, conflict has been seen as a driver of social change and a source of violence and institutional deadlock. Examining this highly ambiguous conceptual nexus is crucial, as its impacts are tangible globally, from major theatres of war like Gaza and Ukraine to global trade disputes and political polarization in institutions of regional and global cooperation.
This Research Topic seeks to take stock of and enhance our knowledge about the relationship about populism and conflict, considering diverse disciplinary, conceptual, empirical, normative, and political perspectives. Rather than attempting to reconcile these perspectives or to advocate for a specific position, the goal is to map the various ways in which this conceptual nexus manifests in both contemporary and historical terms. To do so, we invite papers that critically explore populism and conflict across world regions, time, different scales—individual, local, national, regional, and global—and within various institutional contexts, from parliamentary and elite politics and informal political institutions to international organizations, public debates, and transnational actor constellations. By examining the relationship between populism and conflict in these varied contexts, the aim is to uncover important nuances and differences, thus broadening the research agenda to include new challenges, responses, and potentials. Given this strategic openness in both conceptual and empirical focus, we ask that contributions, whether theoretical or empirical in nature, explicitly reflect on their usages of the concepts of populism and conflict, and the forms of their entanglement, highlighting how this entanglement shapes, and is shaped by, specific ideological, political, social, historical, or institutional settings.
Potential themes of contributions include, but are not limited to:
• Theoretical inquiries into the relation between populism and conflict, unpacking analytical, ethical or political dimensions.
• Contemporary violent conflicts and wars, analysing the role of populism in shaping and transforming these conflicts.
• Conflicts in (international) organizations and political institutions, exploring how populist politics affect the contested evolution of these political bodies.
• Populist discourses, analysing how populism narrates and frames political conflicts and violence as well as conflict transformation strategies.
• Populist worldviews, offering close-up portrays of lived populism and the influence of conflict-based ideologies.
• Methodological explorations, assessing how populism as a lens can reveal new insights into conflict and peace, and, vice versa, how peace and conflict studies may help us understand populism as a political phenomenon.
• The rise of illiberal politics, investigating the role of populism in re-configuring political cultures and democracy within and across borders.
• Regional and global security orders, unpacking the impact of populist foreign policies on protracted conflict dynamics.
• Historical studies of populism as a political logic and its role societal struggles over class, identity, and in-equality.
• Comparative history of ideas, analysing how perceptions of populism and conflict have evolved over time, in parallel and as cross-fertilizing concepts.
Keywords: Populism, conflict, political institutions, illiberalism, violence, war, international security
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
