Reflections on the populist backlash, democratic backsliding, and the crisis of the rule of law in Europe

Mojca Pajnik, Marko Ribać and Tjaša Turnšek participated at the meeting of the international research project Populist Backlash, Democratic Backsliding, and the Crisis of the Rule of Law in European Union (Popback) at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in London, from 20th to 22nd September. Researchers have analysed the diverse mechanisms of “exclusionary populism” and their effects on the undermining of the rule of law, economic policies and the erosion of the public media. As part of the research module on the media, they discussed the effects of authoritarian populist governments on media systems and journalistic autonomy in a comparative historical perspective of Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia and Turkey. In the coming months, they plan to engage in a comparative analysis of media coverage of the war in Ukraine.