Popback

Populist Backlash, Democratic Backsliding (POPBACK)

Project Mission

To help organisations navigate political risk by examining how weakening institutional governance affects the business environment and identifying strategies that multinational enterprises use to manage operational uncertainty in challenging markets.

POPBACK Project Team

Our interdisciplinary research collaboration included universities and research institutes across Europe and the United States

Lead Institution: Loughborough University, United Kingdom (Project Leader: Professor Gerhard Schnyder)

Partner Institutions:

University of Cambridge, UK (Professor Simon Deakin, Fellow of the British Academy, Law)
London School of Economics and Political Science, UK (Dr Dorottya Sallai, Management, Work Package 2 Lead)
Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland (Professor Barbara Błaszczyk, Economics)
Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany (Professor Andreas Nölke, Political Science)
Peace Institute Ljubljana, Slovenia (Professor Mojca Pajnik, Communications and Media Studies)
University of Vienna, Austria (Professor Birgit Sauer, Political Science)
University of Roehampton, London, UK (Helena Botto - Performer)

Project Partner: University of Delaware, United States (Professor Daniel Kinderman, Political Economy)

Research Disciplines: Law, political economy, management studies, economics, media and communications, political science, and performance arts

Geographic Scope: Comparative research across Austria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Turkey, and the United Kingdom

Team Composition: 15+ senior researchers, postdoctoral fellows, and PhD candidates studying political risk, institutional governance, business strategy, media systems, and democratic resilience.

Project team photo at project close workshop

Project team photo on project meeting at LSE

Project focus:

Examining how democratic backsliding increases political risk for multinational enterprises and how firms adapt their strategies in response to weakening rule of law.

Methods:

An interdisciplinary study comparing Austria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Turkey, and the UK.

Impact:

Research findings informed policy through International Policy Fellowships with the Cambridge Centre for Science and Policy, connecting academics with stakeholders across the studied countries.

Funding: NORFACE 'Governance in Turbulent Times' Programme, €1.5m

Peer-Reviewed Research Outputs

Technocracy, Supranationalism and Right-Wing Populism: The Variegated Sheltering of Western Assets in East Central European Countries

Journal of Common Market Studies

17 December 2025

In this article, we explored the boundaries of EU regulatory flexibility towards member state policy divergence, revealing that institutional isolation from member state pressures determines which EU bodies actively defend Western foreign direct investment against economic nationalist measures in East Central Europe under populist governments. We provide insights for businesses on political risk patterns and policymakers on enforcement inconsistencies.

The role of the state in shaping the internationalization of firms in the twenty-first century

Competition and Change

25 January 2024

Our Special Issue moves the current debate forward by exploring how the state’s changing role affects firm internationalization.

Social Challenges for Business in the Age of Populism

Business and Society

8 January 2024

Firms face uncertainty and volatility. This special issue explores how populism has affected corporate social responsibility (CSR) and political strategy.

The antecedents of MNC political risk and uncertainty under right-wing populist governments

Journal of International Business Policy

05 April 2023

We explore when political risk may turn into political uncertainty and provide suggestions to foreign MNCs operating in right-wing populist contexts on how to reduce this uncertainty.

Between a rock and a hard place: Internal- and external institutional fit of MNE subsidiary political strategy in contexts of institutional upheaval

Journal of International Management

2 June 2020

We investigate how subsidiaries' political capabilities in emerging markets are not just shaped by their home- or host country institutions, but by both simultaneously - presenting a dilemma for subsidiaries of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in host countries.

What Is “Authoritarian” About Authoritarian Capitalism? The Dual Erosion of the Private–Public Divide in State-Dominated Business Systems

Business and Society

January 15, 2020

Developed the concept of "authoritarian capitalism" in academic literature to distinguish how authoritarian governments blur public-private boundaries from other forms of state intervention - such as regulatory capitalism or state capitalism. We provide analytical clarity for understanding business systems and political risk in countries as diverse as China, Hungary, Poland, and Turkey.