Book Talk with Sandra Destradi: Populism and Foreign Policy
Book Talk with Sandra Destradi: Populism and Foreign Policy
Friday, April 10, 202612:00 PM - 1:15 PM (Pacific)
William J. Perry Conference Room, 2nd Floor
Encina Hall (616 Jane Stanford Way, Stanford)
Registration required. Virtual participation is available via Zoom; if prompted for a password, use: 123456
Professor Sandra Destradi will discuss how the rise of populist governments is transforming international politics. This lecture introduces the monograph Populism and Foreign Policy (OUP, 2025), which explores how and why populist governments reshape foreign policy, and what this reveals about broader changes in world politics. Drawing on a conception of populism as a thin-centred ideology, the talk introduces a framework built around two core mechanisms: the use of foreign policy issues for domestic political mobilization and the personalization of decision-making by leaders. It shows how different combinations of these mechanisms help explain when populist governments escalate disputes, weaken support for global governance, challenge multilateral institutions, or diversify their countries’ international partnerships. The book draws on in-depth analyses of transitions to populist rule in Bolivia, India, the Philippines, and Turkey, and then applies the framework to Hungary, the UK, and Italy to illuminate how populism is reshaping patterns of cooperation, conflict, and international order.
The event will begin with opening remarks from Hesham Sallam, Senior Research Scholar at CDDRL, who serves as Associate Director for Research and Associate Director of the Program on Arab Reform and Development (ARD). The event will conclude with an audience Q&A.
This event is sponsored by the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL).
speakers
Sandra Destradi is a professor and chair of International Relations at the University of Freiburg, Germany. She is currently serving as a long-term guest professor at Reichman University, Israel, funded by the German Academic Exchange Service. Her research interests include the effects of populism on foreign policy and international politics, questions of regional security, and the role of emerging powers in global governance. She is currently leading the research project Populism and Foreign Policy, funded by the German Research Foundation, and the MSCA Doctoral Network “International Dimensions and Effects of Populism” (IDEoPOP), funded by the European Union. Her recent publications include the monographs “Reluctance in World Politics: Why States Fail to Act Decisively” (2023, Bristol University Press) and “Populism and Foreign Policy” (co-authored with Johannes Plagemann, 2025, Oxford University Press).
Hesham Sallam
Hesham Sallam is a Senior Research Scholar at CDDRL, where he serves as Associate Director for Research. He is also Associate Director of the Program on Arab Reform and Development. Sallam is co-editor of Jadaliyya ezine and a former program specialist at the U.S. Institute of Peace. His research focuses on political and social development in the Arab World. Sallam’s research has previously received the support of the Social Science Research Council and the U.S. Institute of Peace. He is author of Classless Politics: Islamist Movements, the Left, and Authoritarian Legacies in Egypt (Columbia University Press, 2022), co-editor of Struggles for Political Change in the Arab World (University of Michigan Press, 2022), and editor of Egypt's Parliamentary Elections 2011-2012: A Critical Guide to a Changing Political Arena (Tadween Publishing, 2013). Sallam received a Ph.D. in Government (2015) and an M.A. in Arab Studies (2006) from Georgetown University, and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh (2003).