Professor Stijn van Kessel, BSc & MSc (VU Amsterdam), DPhil (Sussex)

Profile

Stijn van Kessel is Professor of Comparative Politics. He joined Queen Mary in September 2017. Stijn’s main research interests are in populism, the radical right, Euroscepticism and the wider politics of European integration. Recent ESRC-funded and collaborative research projects focused on the organisation and internal life of populist radical right parties, the consequences of Brexit and the mobilisation of pro-European social movements. Stijn currently leads a working group in the COST Action project Linking Euroscepticism and Populism (CA23102). More general interests include elections and party competition, party system change in Europe, and democratic backsliding.

Previously, Stijn was a Lecturer in Politics at Loughborough University (2012-2017). Between October 2013 and September 2015 he was based at the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Germany, to carry out a postdoctoral research project funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He also held visiting research positions at the University of Leuven in Belgium (2016) and the WZB Berlin Social Science Center in Germany (2019), as well as visiting teaching positions in the Netherlands at the Radboud University Nijmegen and the VU University Amsterdam (2011-2012).

Stijn completed a BSc (2005) and MSc (2006) in Political Science at the VU University Amsterdam, and defended his doctoral dissertation at the University of Sussex in 2011.

Stijn is joint editor of the Routledge Extremism & Democracy book series.

You can follow him on BlueSky @stijntvankessel.bsky.social

Teaching

None, currently on research leave.

Research

Research Interests:

Stijn’s main research interests are in populism, the radical right, Euroscepticism and the wider politics of European integration. Recent ESRC-funded and collaborative research projects focused on the organisation and internal life of populist radical right parties, the consequences of Brexit and the mobilisation of pro-European social movements. Stijn currently leads a working group in the COST Action project Linking Euroscepticism and Populism (CA23102). More general interests include elections and party competition, party system change in Europe, and democratic backsliding.

Examples of research funding:

Stijn contributed to the development of a successful grant bid (led by Prof. Ioannis Andreadis) resulting in the COST Action project Linking Euroscepticism and Populism (CA23102). He leads Working Group 1: ‘Conceptual Framework for Populism and Euroscepticism’ (with co-leads Dr Marta Lorimer, Prof. Luis Ramiro and Dr Juan Roch).

Together with Prof. Daniele Albertazzi (Principal Investigator) and Prof. Scott Lucas, Stijn was awarded an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Research Grant (ES/R011540/1; Funded Value: £727,273) for the project ‘The survival of the mass party: Evaluating activism and participation among populist radical right parties in Europe’. This project commenced in July 2019 and ran until April 2022. Visit the project’s ‘Populism in Action’ website here.

He was also co-investigator in the project ‘28+ perspectives on Brexit: a guide to the multi-stakeholder negotiations’ with Prof. Helen Drake (Principal Investigator), Dr Elena Georgiadou, Dr Borja Garcia Garcia and Dr Nicola Chelotti. The project was funded through an ESRC Brexit Priority Grant (ES/R001847/1; Funded Value: £241,253) and ran from April 2017 until September 2019.

Stijn was previously awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Fellowship for Postdoctoral Researchers, supporting two years of research at the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Germany (between October 2013 and September 2015).

Publications

Stijn’s Google Scholar profile

Books (research monographs)

• D. Albertazzi; S. van Kessel; A. Favero; N. Hatakka; J. Sijstermans; M. Zulianello (forthcoming, 2025) Populist Radical Right Parties in Action. The Survival of the Mass Party. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 
• A. Fagan and S. van Kessel (2023) The Failure of Remain: anti-Brexit activism in the United Kingdom, Montreal: McGill–Queen's University Press.
• S. van Kessel (2015) Populist Parties in Europe: Agents of Discontent?, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Peer-reviewed journal articles

• D. Albertazzi and S. van Kessel (2024) ‘Why do party elites incentivise activism? The case of the populist radical right’, Party Politics, 30 (5), 770-780.
• M. Rooduijn, A. Pirro, D. Halikiopoulou, C. Froio, S. van Kessel, S. de Lange, C. Mudde and P. Taggart (2024) ‘The PopuList: A Database of Populist, Far-Left, and Far-Right Parties Using Expert-Informed Qualitative Comparative Classification (EiQCC)’. British Journal of Political Science, 54 (3), 969-978.
• S. van Kessel and A. Fagan (2023) ‘Defending Europe from below: pro-European activism in Germany and the UK and its contribution to the politicisation of Europe’, Journal of European Integration, 45 (7), 971–993.
• K. Abts, E. Dalle Mulle, S. van Kessel and E. Michel (2021) ‘The welfare agenda of the populist radical right in Europe: Combining chauvinism, producerism, and populism’, Swiss Political Science Review, 27 (1), 21–40
• S. van Kessel, J. Sajuria and S. Van Hauwaert (2021) ‘Informed, uninformed or misinformed? A cross-national analysis of populist party supporters across European democracies’, West European Politics, 44 (3), 585-610.
• S. van Kessel, N. Chelotti, H. Drake, J. Roch and P. Rodi (2020) ‘Eager to leave? Populist radical right parties’ responses to the UK’s Brexit vote’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 22 (1), 65-84.
• S. Van Hauwaert and S. van Kessel (2018) ‘Beyond protest and discontent. A cross-national analysis of the effect of populist attitudes and issue positions on populist party support’, European Journal of Political Research, 57 (1), 68-92.
• A. Pirro and S. van Kessel (2017) ‘United in opposition? The populist radical right’s EU-pessimism in times of crisis’, Journal of European Integration, 39 (4), 405-420.
• S. van Kessel and R. Castelein (2016) ‘Shifting the blame. Populist politicians’ use of Twitter as a tool of opposition’, Journal of Contemporary European Research, 12 (2), 594-614.
• S. van Kessel (2014) ‘The populist cat-dog. Applying the concept of populism to contemporary European party systems’, Journal of Political Ideologies, 19 (1), 99–118.
• S. van Kessel (2013) ‘A matter of supply and demand: the electoral performance of populist parties in three European countries’, Government and Opposition, 48 (2), 175-199.
• S. van Kessel (2011) ‘Explaining the electoral performance of populist parties: the Netherlands as a case study’, Perspectives on European Politics and Society, 12 (1), 68-88.
• T. Bale, S. van Kessel and P. Taggart (2011) ‘Thrown around with abandon? Popular understandings of populism as conveyed by the print media: a UK case study', Acta Politica, 46 (2), 111-131.

Special issues (guest-edited) including contributions

• A Fagan and S. van Kessel (eds.) (2022) Mobilising around Europe: pro and anti-EU politics and activism in an era of populism and nationalism, Special Section, Social Movement Studies, 21 (1-2), 169-253.

• S. van Kessel and A. Fagan (2022) ‘Mobilising around Europe: a conceptual framework and introduction to the special section’, Social Movement Studies, 21 (1-2), 169-179.

• D. Albertazzi and S. van Kessel (eds.) (2021) Right-Wing Populist Party Organisation Across Europe: The Survival of the Mass-Party?, Thematic Issue, Politics and Governance, 9 (4), 224-370.
• D. Albertazzi and S. van Kessel (2021) ‘Right-Wing Populist Party Organisation Across Europe: The Survival of the Mass-Party? Introduction to the Thematic Issue’, Politics and Governance, 9 (4), 224-227.
• S. van Kessel and D. Albertazzi (2021) ‘Right‐wing populist party organisation across Europe: The survival of the mass‐party? Conclusion to the thematic issue’, Politics and Governance, 9 (4), 365-370.
• A. Pirro, P. Taggart and S. van Kessel (eds.) (2018) The Populist Politics of Euroscepticism in Times of Crisis, Politics, 38 (3), 253-390.
• A. Pirro and S. van Kessel (2018) ‘Populist Eurosceptic Trajectories in Italy and the Netherlands during the European crises’, Politics, 38 (3), 327-343.
• A. Pirro, P. Taggart and S. van Kessel (2018) ‘The populist politics of Euroscepticism in times of crisis: Comparative conclusions’, Politics, 38 (3), 378-390.

Commissioned academic articles

• S. van Kessel (2025) 'Populism, the far right and EU integration: beyond simple dichotomies', Journal of European Integration, 47 (1), 127–133.
• M. Rooduijn and S. van Kessel (2019) ‘Populism and Euroskepticism in the European Union’, in: Oxford Encyclopedia of European Union Politics, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• S. van Kessel and A. Pirro (2014) ‘Discontent on the Move: Prospects for Populist Radical Right Parties in 2014 European Parliament Elections’, Intereconomics, 49 (1), 14-18.

Book chapters

• S. van Kessel (2023) ‘Populism and Parties’ in Carter, N., D. Keith, G. Sindre and S. Vasilopoulou (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Political Parties, Oxon: Routledge.
• S. van Kessel (2021) ‘The centre-right in the Netherlands: Normalising the Silent Counter-Revolution’, in T. Bale and C. Rovira Kaltwasser (eds.) Riding the Populist Wave. Europe's Mainstream Right in Crisis, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• S. van Kessel (2021) ‘Right-wing populism in contemporary Dutch politics’, in: F. Decker, B. Henningsen, M. Lewandowsky, P. Adorf (eds.) Aufstand der Außenseiter Die Herausforderung der europäischen Politik durch den neuen Populismus, Baden-Baden: Nomos.
• S. van Kessel (2020) ‘Character Attacks by Dutch Populist Radical Right Leader Geert Wilders’, in: S. Samoilenko, M. Icks, J. Keohane, and E. Shiraev (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Character Assassination and Reputation Management, Oxon: Routledge.
• K. Abts, T. Kochuyt and S. van Kessel (2019) ‘Populism in Belgium: the mobilization of the body anti-politic’, in: K. Hawkins et al. (eds.) The Ideational Approach to Populism. Concept, Theory, and Analysis, Oxon: Routledge.
• S. van Kessel (2016) ‘Using faith to exclude: The role of religion in Dutch populism’, in: N. Marzouki, D. McDonnell and O. Roy (eds.) Saving the People: How Populists Hijack Religion, Oxford University Press (USA) / Hurst (UK), 61-77.
• S. van Kessel (2016) ‘Like a Hurricane? The ‘winds of populism’ in contemporary Europe’, in: M. Morlok, T. Poguntke and G. Zons (eds.) Etablierungschancen neuer Parteien, Schriften zum Parteienrecht und zur Parteienforschung, Band 51, Baden-Baden: Nomos,145-162.
• S. van Kessel (2016) ‘No one-trick ponies: the multifaceted appeal of the populist radical right’, in: M. Fielitz and L. Laloire (eds.) Trouble on the Far Right. Contemporary Right-Wing Strategies and Practices in Europe, Bielefeld: Transcript, 37-42.
• S. van Kessel (2015) ‘Dutch Populism during the Crisis’, in: H. Kriesi and T. Pappas (eds.) Populism in the Shadow of the Great Recession, Colchester: ECPR Press, 109-124.
• Abts, K. and S. van Kessel (2015) ‘Populism’, in: J. Wright (ed.) International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2^nd edition, Vol 18. Oxford: Elsevier, 609–612.
• S. van Kessel (2015) ‘Right-wing populism in contemporary Dutch politics’, in: F. Decker, B. Henningsen and K. Jakobsen (eds.) Rechtspopulismus und Rechtsextremismus in Europa. Die Herausforderung der Zivilgesellschaft durch alte Ideologien und neue Medien, Baden-Baden: Nomos, 205-216.
• T. Bale, D. Hough and S. van Kessel (2012) ‘In or out of proportion? Labour and social democratic parties’ responses to the radical right’, in: J. Rydgren (ed.) Class Politics and the Radical Right, Oxon: Routledge, 91-106.
• S. van Kessel (2011) ‘Two of a kind or kind of incompatible? Populist parties in the Dutch and Polish party systems’, in: J. Gijsenbergh, S. Hollander, T. Houwen and W. de Jong (eds.) Creative Crises of Democracy, Brussels: P.I.E. Peter Lang, 381-400.
• S. van Kessel and A. Krouwel (2011) ‘Van vergankelijke radicale dissidenten tot kwelgeesten van de gevestigde orde. Nieuwe politieke partijen in Nederland en de toekomst van de representative democratie’, in: R. Andeweg and J. Thomassen (eds.) Democratie Doorgelicht, het functioneren van de Nederlandse democratie, Leiden: Leiden University Press, 301-317.

Database

• M. Rooduijn, A. Pirro, D. Halikiopoulou, C. Froio, S. van Kessel, S. de Lange, C. Mudde, and P. Taggart (2023) The PopuList 3.0: An Overview of Populist, Far-left and Far-right Parties in Europe. www.popu-list.org. DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/2EWKQ.

Supervision

Stijn currently supervises two PhD students:

Ziyi Huang (with Prof. Maria Grasso). ‘Friends or Foes? Understanding European far-right party-movement relations during the anti-Islamic turn’.

Freddie Larden (with Prof. Lasse Thomassen) ‘Constructing identity through humour in left-wing populism’.

Previously, Stijn supervised until successful completion:

Salomé Ietter (with Prof. Lasse Thomassen). ‘Populist versus liberal democracy? Anti-populist discourses in the UK and France and their implications for democratic dialogue.

Patricia Rodi (with Prof. Adam Fagan). ‘Populist political communication going mainstream? Populism in the discursive and communicative strategies of mainstream political parties in Western Europe’.

Stijn welcomes further applications in the fields of populism, radical right parties and movements, the politics of European integration, and party competition in Europe. 

Public Engagement

Stijn has published commentaries and analyses for outlets including The Observer, The Conversation, UK in a Changing Europe, LSE EUROPP Blog, Policy Network Observatory, European Policy Institutes Network, Newsweek, Tagesspiegel, Republik, and the European Parties Elections and Referendums Network (EPERN). 

He has given interviews for media including BBC radio and television, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the Financial Times, and various other European dailies and online platforms. He is also a member of Team Populism, contributed to the group’s YouTube channel, and acted as advisor for ‘The new populism’ project of the Guardian.

Grants

Research grants

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Research Grant (ES/R011540/1; Funded Value: £727,273). Co-investigator in the project ‘The survival of the mass party: Evaluating activism and participation among populist radical right parties in Europe’ (Principal Investigator: Prof. Daniele Albertazzi), July 2019-April 2022. 

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Brexit Priority Grant (2017, value: £298,339). Co-investigator in the project ‘28+ perspectives on Brexit: a guide to the multi-stakeholder negotiations’ (Principal investigator: Prof. Helen Drake), April 2017-October 2018.

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Research Fellowship for Postdoctoral Researchers (2012, stipend: €2,650 per month excl. research allowances). Two-year fellowship at the Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, October 2013-September 2015.

VSBfonds Grant (2007, value: €10,000) in support of DPhil research at the University of Sussex.

Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Grant (2007, value: €7,500) in support of DPhil research at the University of Sussex.