We now have the first part of the provisional (i.e. still being developed) party manifesto of General Vannacci's Futuro Nazionale, now polling at circa 7/8%. As expected, they position themselves as the "pure" Right, on the right of both League & Brothers of Italy. Thread.

Marina García Diéguez writes for Artículo 14 on the rise of General Vannacci & what it means for the right-wing coalition in Italy. With comments by yours truly (article in Spanish): www.articulo14.es/internaciona...

Vannacci & his Futuro Nazionale (FN - not by coincidence...) only need 6-7% to try & convince Meloni to welcome them into the right-wing alliance. However, if they overtake Tajani's Forza Italia (& they don't need to go much further to achieve that) the psychological impact will be huge.

Meloni faces a classic dilemma: co-opt a rival into the inner circle, or leave an adversarial figure free to disrupt from the periphery. If she chooses exclusion over containment, she risks fracturing the right and handing the election to the Left-M5S coalition. A few percentage points will matter.

Salvini has ended up with a crisis of his own doing... @amykazmin.bsky.social of the @financialtimes.com on the rise of General Vannacci's extreme right party & what it means for both Meloni & Salvini. With comments by Lorenzo Castellani & yours truly: www.ft.com/content/0ac8...

Giorgia Meloni under fire from far-right’s ‘new Caesar’

Roberto Vannacci is luring MPs from ruling coalition and sees support rising ahead of Italy’s 2027 election

ft.com

We are at the 32nd International Conference of Europeanists in Dublin!

Professor Daniele Albertazzi@dralbertazziuk.bsky.social · 2mo ago

On the way to Dublin for the 32nd International Conference of Europeanists, where l shall talk about this book with one of my co-authors: @adrianfavero.bsky.social. Special thanks to Sorina Soare for chairing! It's on Wedn. 17th at 9am in O'Connor L2.21. The book is free to read (link below)

It's great to see reviews coming out of our monograph on Populist Radical Right Parties in Action!

Audrey Gagnon@audreygagnon.bsky.social · 3mo ago

It also includes two book reviews: Esmee Bakker discusses @milleridriss.bsky.social’s book 'Man Up: The New Misogyny and the Rise of Violent Extremism' and Aleš Michal reviews the book by @dralbertazziuk.bsky.social et al., 'Populist Radical Right Parties in Action: The Survival of the Mass Party' 🤩

I’m very happy to share that my first book, 𝘾𝙪𝙡𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙛𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙩, 𝙋𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝘼𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙑𝙤𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙀𝙪𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙈𝙚𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙥𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙨, has just been published by Palgrave Macmillan! Link here: link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Cultural Conflict, Political Attitudes, and Voting in European Metropolises

This book investigates how a new transnational cleavage is reshaping the metropolitan geography of voting behaviour and public opinion in Europe.

link.springer.com

Our workshop at LSE "Italy under Giorgia Meloni: A 'Vanguard' in the Management of Migration and Security Challenges?" is now underway! Follow along for updates 🇮🇹

The Meloni paradox: flying high on global stage, but stumbling at home. ​While her international image holds up, a series of domestic missteps from her and her ministers is quietly weakening her position My comments for The Times newspaper (firewall, unfortunately) www.thetimes.com/world/europe...

The Cambridge student, a brutal murder and Meloni’s culture chief

The lack of justice for Giulio Regeni’s death in Cairo has come back to haunt the Italian government after arts funding was denied to a film about the case

thetimes.com

The AfD: "an illustration of how opposition parties can shape discourses about national identity".

LSE European Politics@lseeuroppblog.bsky.social · 4mo ago

The AfD's narratives have had a powerful impact on German policy debates. New research shows the party's influence lies in the fundamentally different story it tells about what the German nation is or should be. ✍ Rachel Herring | Maximilian Tkocz blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2...

📣🏆We are honoured to be awarded the PSA Specialist Group of the Year 2025/26! Many thanks to the jury at @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social for their trust, our convenors and executive committee members for their work, and all our members for their active contribution!

Monday 15:30. Panel “Visuals in populist and reactionary politics” (St Catherine’s – Aramugam 1.1) with @populismpsa.bsky.social @dbonansinga.bsky.social Voutyras Veneti Poulakidakos @lauramontecchio.bsky.social Griffini @theoaiolfi.bsky.social @ngellwitzki.bsky.social Scanlon

Monday 13:30. Panel "Brothers of Italy and the illiberal populist temptation in Western Europe" (St Catherine's - Aramugam 1.1) with Mazzoleni @dbonansinga.bsky.social @dralbertazziuk.bsky.social Griffini @carloruzza.bsky.social Loner Bulli Dallara

Interested in this topic? www.france24.com/en/europe/20...

'Return hubs': EU parliament clears the way for offshore migrant detention centres

The European Parliament on Thursday approved a proposed reform that would allow member states to deport migrants whose asylum applications have been rejected to offshore detention facilities outside…

france24.com

Umberto Bossi, founder of the Lombard League (later Northern League), passed away yesterday. He remained a vocal critic of Matteo Salvini’s transformation of the party—from its regionalist, federalist roots into a broader nationalist quasi-MAGA organisation—right to the very end.

Come and join our workshop on Meloni's impact on the management of migration in the EU, co-organised by @lse-ei.bsky.social and @psa-italian.bsky.social, with financial support by @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social! PhD students & ECRs can apply for travel grants up to £110 to cover travel/accommodation.

LSE European Institute@lse-ei.bsky.social · 6mo ago

📢 CALL FOR PAPERS In collaboration with @psa-italian.bsky.social, the European Institute is hosting a workshop on 🇮🇹 'Italy under Giorgia Meloni: a ‘vanguard’ in the management of migration?' on 15 May 2026. ⏰️ 📩 Please submit a 250-word abstract by 15 March 2026: www.lse.ac.uk/european-ins...

Check the great programme of Italy-related + comparative politics events being organised by @psa-italian.bsky.social at the Annual Conference of @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social in Oxford. The group is co-convened by our principal investigator, Prof. @dralbertazziuk.bsky.social!

PSA Italian Politics@psa-italian.bsky.social · 6mo ago

📣 We are gearing up for #PSA26... Held in Oxford from 30 March to 1 April 2026, the Annual Conference of the @polstudiesassoc.bsky.social will showcase the best of British and international political research. Check out our Italian Politics events below ⬇️

Members of our @populisminaction.bsky.social team will be presenting our work at 2 conferences in the near future: The Political Studies Association 2026 Annual Conference in Oxford (30th March-1st Apr) and the 32nd International Conference of Europeanists in Dublin (16-18 June). Details below.

Members of our @populisminaction.bsky.social team will be presenting our work at 2 conferences in the near future: The Political Studies Association 2026 Annual Conference in Oxford (30th March-1st Apr) and the 32nd International Conference of Europeanists in Dublin (16-18 June). Details below.

Our principal investigator, @dralbertazziuk.bsky.social, spoke to the Financial Times about the troubles affecting the League in Italy. The link below should still be non-paywalled, hopefully.

Professor Daniele Albertazzi@dralbertazziuk.bsky.social · 7mo ago

.@amykazmin.bsky.social (Financial Times) on General Vannacci leaving Salvini's League yesterday. Includes comments by yours truly and other commentators about the damage this development will inflict on Salvini's credibility and authority within the party. as.ft.com/r/a2f5163d-3...

I very much doubt this a "widening rift", as l do not expect more than 3 or 4 MPs to follow Vannacci. Leaving an organised political machine to join a personal party led by someone who has no experience of life in the institutions, campaigning etc & has just performed poorly in regional elections...

POLITICO Europe@politico.eu · 7mo ago

Italian MEP Roberto Vannacci today formally broke with Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini’s far-right League party, capping weeks of internal turmoil and exposing a widening rift on Italy’s right.

Good to see our Principal Investigator, @dralbertazziuk.bsky.social, speak to Politico on the appropriation of Christmas traditions by the radical right in Europe

Professor Daniele Albertazzi@dralbertazziuk.bsky.social · 8mo ago

In her Christmas message, Meloni has attacked those "who say we shouldn't set up nativity scenes in schools since they offend people from other cultures". I have discussed the "rediscovery" of Christmas traditions by radical right parties with Politico: www.politico.eu/article/how-...

@ecprtheloop.bsky.social invites pitches for the Future of Populism blog series, co-edited by @petraguasti.bsky.social and myself. Nearly 100 blogs have been published so far. 🔍 Any country, method, approach. 🎓 PhD students & ECRs especially encouraged. ✍️ Submit via The Loop 👉 lnkd.in/ghAy6s96

We are still on the road to discuss the book written by the Populism in Action team... Read it online - it's open access!

Professor Daniele Albertazzi@dralbertazziuk.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Back at Bologna's Alma Mater today to discuss the book below with Politics postgrads... Looking forward to it.... The book is open access -free to read and download. See link below.

🌳 Thrilled to launch The PopulisTree — a new website covering decades of populism in Europe (both national and European elections) using a new taxonomy and dataset. 🔗 populistree.org 📄 More in my brand new article in European Union Politics: 🔗 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Our Populism in Action team of researchers will be there, of course...

Professor Daniele Albertazzi@dralbertazziuk.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Having seen what many specialist groups have been working on in the run-up to this year's PSA Annual Conference, l know that it will be unmissable. See many of you there!

There are now 2 Leagues, & they won't live peacefully side by side for much longer. One wants more powers (including of taxation) for northern regions. It is the old guard of the party, such as former Governor of Veneto region Zaia. It has achieved an impressive result in Veneto regional elections

This goes straight to the top of the pile this weekend... The normalisation of radical right, and even extreme right positions among young voters in Germany (and beyond) is such a key topic right now...

Anna-Sophie Heinze@asheinze.bsky.social · 9mo ago

🎉 New publication 🎉 Why do #youngpeople vote for the #AfD? This question has kept our research project busy for quite some time, so I'm beyond excited that our first article - co-authored with @timonscheuer.bsky.social - is now out in #GermanPolitics! 🤩 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The book is "open access" - free to read and download for everyone. academic.oup.com/book/60532?l...

Populist Radical Right Parties in Action: The Survival of the Mass Party

Abstract. This book investigates why and how several contemporary populist radical right parties (PRRPs) in Western Europe adopt the supposedly outdated ma

academic.oup.com