Keynote Seminar 3 - Catherine Eunice De Vries, Bocconi University

Title: Public Service Deprivation and the Rise of the Populist Right: Evidence from Europe

Abstract: Across Europe, the rise of populist right-wing parties has reshaped political life: challenging traditional party systems and democratic norms. While cultural and material drivers of populism are well documented in the social science literature, recent evidence points to a critical, yet often overlooked, explanation: the decline in access to and quality of public services. In this keynote, Professor Catherine E. de Vries summarizes her ongoing cross-national research showing how public service deprivation, related to healthcare, police presence, and transportation etc., increases support for populist right parties. Drawing on causal inference methods, she shows how state withdrawal fuel feelings of abandonment and political disillusionment. This talk sheds light on the structural political conditions that foster political extremism, while at the same time raises pressing questions for policymakers: What does it mean to be "left behind"? And how can the state regain legitimacy in the eyes of its citizens? This keynote will be of interest to scholars and practitioners concerned with democracy, state capacity, populism, and spatial inequalities in Europe and beyond.