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𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗗𝗲 𝗩𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀: 𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗲𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗙𝗮𝗿-𝗥𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲.Place University Aula, University of Bergen.
Date: 12 September 2025. Time: 12.15-13.45.
Open to all interested, admission free.
More information:
https://www.uib.no/en/ka/179021/rokkan-memorial-lecture-2025-public-service-deprivation-and-geography-far-right-support
Catherine De Vries holds the Generalis Endowed Chair in European Policies and is a professor of political science at the Bocconi University. She has previously held professorships at the University of Oxford and the VU University Amsterdam.
Her research focuses on the interplay between international cooperation and domestic politics. She has contributed with research on the rise of populism and the far right, political polarisation and fragmentation, euroscepticism and European integration, challenger parties and political entrepeneurship, and currently she is working on the political consequences of migrant remittances.
De Vries has published several books, and numerous articles in the leading journals in political science. She is on the editorial board of journals such as Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Politics and Political Science and Research Methods. She is also an active participant in public debates as a columnist for Het Financieele Dagblad and contributes regularly in magazines and newspapers with her opinions and research. De Vries is also the author of the Substack "Respect the Marble" about communicating research and ideas in academia.
This is what the lecture will be about, in De Vries' words:
“This lecture builds on Stein Rokkan’s seminal work on center-periphery cleavages and territorial inequality to examine how public service deprivation fuels the rise of far-right parties in contemporary Europe. I argue that reduced access to essential public services, what I term public service deprivation, helps explain why certain regions become strongholds of far-right and populist support. Drawing on evidence from multiple European countries, I show that areas affected by long-term disinvestment in public services and infrastructure are more prone to political discontent and radical voting behavior. This pattern is driven by the interplay of demand- and supply-side dynamics: citizens adopt zero-sum perceptions of resource competition, while far-right parties strategically frame service decline as the result of immigration and elite neglect. Revisiting Rokkan’s legacy, this lecture offers fresh insights into how spatial inequality and state retreat shape the electoral geography of the far right in Europe today.”
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Universitetsaulaen i Bergen, Bergen, Norway
