The Cultural Origins of Populism

The electoral success of right-wing populist parties is often attributed to disaffection among certain voters. But while economic explanations for this disaffection are theoretically clear and quantifiable, explanations centered on cultural factors offer more vague accounts that are harder to evaluate empirically. We address this problem by theoretically distinguishing between five different ``storylines'' about the cultural origins of populism, and then test them using extensive data from Europe and the United States.

Online Hate Speech and How to Counter it

Despite heightened awareness of the detrimental impact of hate speech on social media platforms on affected communities and public discourse, there is little consensus on approaches to mitigate it. While content moderation---either by governments or social media companies---can curb online hostility, such policies may suppress valuable as well as illicit speech and might disperse rather than reduce hate speech. As an alternative strategy, an increasing number of international and non-governmental organizations (I/NGO) are employing counterspeech to confront and reduce online hate speech.
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