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Topic · Political Science and International Relations

Populism, Right-Wing Movements

Populism, Right-Wing Movements is a research topic within Political Science and International Relations. Science Explorer counts 14k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the phenomenon of populism in contemporary politics, with a focus on right-wing and extreme right parties in Europe and Latin America. It delves into the political communication style, economic factors, and societal attitudes associated with populism, as well as its impact on democracy, media, and social media. The cluster also examines the rise of specific populist leaders and parties, such as Trump, Brexit, SYRIZA, and the AfD.

  • Populism
  • Right-Wing
  • Extreme Right
  • Political Communication
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • Radical Right
  • Nationalism
  • Social Media
  • Globalization
Research works
14k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.4k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+15%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
26% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Populism, Right-Wing Movements

Which countries lead Populism, Right-Wing Movements research?

By volume, the United States and Germany publish the most (850 and 721 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 850 works
  2. 2 Germany 721 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 480 works
  4. 4 Italy 294 works
  5. 5 Spain 239 works
  6. 6 Poland 184 works
  7. 7 Türkiye 156 works
  8. 8 Netherlands 144 works
  9. 9 France 128 works
  10. 10 Australia 123 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 25.6%Germany: 21.7%United Kingdom: 14.5%Italy: 8.9%6 others listed: 29.3%26%largest
United States850 · 25.6%Germany721 · 21.7%United Kingdom480 · 14.5%Italy294 · 8.9%6 others listed973 · 29.3%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Populism, Right-Wing Movements research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Populism, Right-Wing Movements research, followed by Leibniz Association and Christ University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 45 works
  2. 2 Leibniz AssociationGermany 37 works
  3. 3 Christ UniversityIndia 34 works
  4. 4 Freie Universität BerlinGermany 32 works
  5. 5 University of ViennaAustria 31 works
  6. 6 University of MilanItaly 28 works
  7. 7 University of AmsterdamNetherlands 27 works
  8. 8 Aarhus UniversityDenmark 27 works
  9. 9 Universität HamburgGermany 27 works
  10. 10 London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom 26 works

Who are the leading researchers in Populism, Right-Wing Movements?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Populism, Right-Wing Movements include Martin McKee, Harry Eugene Stanley and Adnan Kısa.

  1. 1 Martin McKee United Kingdom 270k citations
  2. 2 Harry Eugene Stanley United States 198k citations
  3. 3 Adnan Kısa United States 197k citations
  4. 4 Daron Acemoğlu United States 164k citations
  5. 5 Michael J. Mack United States 154k citations
  6. 6 Anthony Giddens United States 121k citations
  7. 7 Judith Butler United States 116k citations
  8. 8 Francis Fukuyama United States 110k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Populism, Right-Wing Movements?

The most cited paper in Populism, Right-Wing Movements is "“Effective” Number of Parties" (Markku Laakso, Rein Taagepera, 1979), with 3,474 citations. Next come "Affect, Not Ideology" (2,718) and "A Theory of the Calculus of Voting" (1,939).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 “Effective” Number of Parties Markku Laakso, Rein Taagepera · Comparative Political Studies Open access Apr 1979 3,474
2 Affect, Not Ideology Shanto Iyengar, Gaurav Sood, Yphtach Lelkes · Public Opinion Quarterly Sep 2012 2,718
3 A Theory of the Calculus of Voting William H. Riker, Peter C. Ordeshook · American Political Science Review Mar 1968 1,939
4 Trump, Brexit, and the Rise of Populism: Economic Have-Nots and Cultural Backlash Ronald F. Inglehart, Pippa Norris · SSRN Electronic Journal PreprintOpen access 2016 1,907
5 Political Communication in Media Society: Does Democracy Still Enjoy an Epistemic Dimension? The Impact of Normative Theory on Empirical Research Jürgen Habermas · Communication Theory Nov 2006 1,847
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Populism, Right-Wing Movements research done?

The largest centres of Populism, Right-Wing Movements research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Berlin (Germany), Warsaw (Poland) and Paris (France). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Mannheim.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 116 works
  2. 2 BerlinGermany 98 works
  3. 3 WarsawPoland 65 works
  4. 4 ParisFrance 62 works
  5. 5 MadridSpain 61 works
  6. 6 ViennaAustria 61 works
  7. 7 BudapestHungary 59 works
  8. 8 IstanbulTürkiye 56 works
  9. 9 MoscowRussia 52 works
  10. 10 New YorkUnited States 50 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. MannheimDE · 30.7 works25×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Populism, Right-Wing Movements than the world average.

See Populism, Right-Wing Movements on the map

Where is the best place to study Populism, Right-Wing Movements?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Amsterdam, Université Libre de Bruxelles and University of Bath score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 24.2%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of BathUniversity of Amster…Université Libre de …Radboud University N…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of AmsterdamNetherlands 76.727.8%9.9×27 -35.2%
2Université Libre de BruxellesBelgium 75.424.4%16.9×24 +53.6%
3University of BathUnited Kingdom 75.243.3%10.2×11 +42.6%
4Radboud University NijmegenNetherlands 71.921.1%6.6×18 +72.2%
5University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 71.720.8%4.0×26 +8.1%
6University of ZurichSwitzerland 70.427.9%6.3×20 -12.3%
7University of HelsinkiFinland 68.417.8%7.8×25 +37.4%
8Freie Universität BerlinGermany 67.411.9%16.9×32 +23.6%
9European University InstituteItaly 66.731.7%58.4×20 -39.8%
10London School of Economics and Political ScienceUnited Kingdom 66.415.3%24.3×26 +2.9%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Populism, Right-Wing Movements, country by country

Is Populism, Right-Wing Movements research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 15% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Populism, Right-Wing Movements.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Populism, Right-Wing Movements as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.020% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Populism, Right-Wing Movements0.022% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Populism, Right-Wing Movements over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Populism, Right-Wing Movements10.1% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Questions people ask

Who researches populism?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Populism, Right-Wing Movements research, followed by Leibniz Association and Christ University. By volume, the United States and Germany publish the most (850 and 721 works in 2022-now).

All 1,273 questions in the Question Catalogue

Discussion

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