Seminar with Prof. Martin Rode (University of Navarra)

The CEAPS research centre cordially invites you to a seminar led by Prof. Martin Rode (University of Navarra) at the Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw. The lecture is titled "The Milei question, or: How liberal are right-wing populist parties? A measurement approach using large language models”.

Prof. Rode’s research focuses on Political Economy, Institutional Economics, and Public Policy. In particular, he explores how institutional environments shape political decision-making and economic reform processes.

The meeting will take place on June 2 at 5:00 pm, in a room A409 (Faculty of Economic Sciences UW). The seminar is an in-person event, but there is a possibility of joining remotely for anyone interested.  [To receive the online meeting link, please contact dr hab. Katarzyna Metelska-Szaniawska, prof. ucz. at ky+qhVa[XEo^~N5cg!\wn#%]#[WglfNCUG6\gMdW#[peAmwvn no later than June 1].

During his visit, Prof. Rode will be available for individual or small-group meetings. This is an excellent opportunity to present your own research, gain valuable feedback, or explore potential collaboration. To schedule a meeting, please reach out directly to dr hab. Katarzyna Metelska-Szaniawska, prof. ucz.

The abstract of the lecture is available below.

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How liberal are right-wing populist parties beyond their rhetorical commitment to “freedom”, and their opposition to liberal elites and institutions? Our paper addresses this question by leveraging large language models (LLMs) to systematically analyze the ideological content of party manifestos. First, we identify and score populist rhetoric based on its characteristic features in the ideational definition: anti-elitism, people-centrism, and Manichean discourse. Second, we classify rightwing populist parties by their emphasis on nationalism, anti-immigration stances, and cultural threat narratives. The resulting populism scores and ideological classifications are very much in-line with other indicators. Third, we assess the degree of liberalism expressed in these manifestos across four dimensions: political, social, economic, and financial market liberalism. Our empirical findings reveal a consistent rejection of liberalism among all populist parties, where increases in the overall use of populist rhetoric are matched with a decidedly anti-liberal shift. Increases in the populist rhetoric of right-wing parties are further associated with an across the board reduction in manifesto positions promoting liberty, which is mostly indistinguishable from that of left-wing populism.