Populism and Regionalism Centre for Global Law and Governance Roundtable

How does the global rise of populism impact regional governance? Media pundits and scholars often portray populism as a fundamental challenge to multilateralism and a rules-based international order. Especially in its current right-wing variant, populism appears to engender narrowly nationalist agendas, inward-looking policies, and sometimes open hostility to the very notion of transboundary cooperation. However, the track record of populist leaders around the world reveals no general unilateral backlash. Virtually all populist-led governments of recent years have remained engaged in multilateral organisations to a notable degree, and some of them have even launched new cooperation initiatives. The regional level is a particularly lively scene of such strategies, and regional organizations have become a primary site of contestation between populist and non-populist actors. This roundtable brings together experts on populism and regionalism to discuss the link between populism and foreign policy, how populist leaders perceive regional cooperation, and the broader implications for the so-called liberal international order.

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