WP1 builds the project’s analytical foundation through an extensive review of research on populist governance, bureaucratic behaviour under illiberal pressure, and the role of professional networks in public administration. In parallel, the team assembles a comprehensive dataset from major sources such as EUROSTAT, OECD, the Quality of Government database, EQI surveys, and multiple expert classifications of populist parties. This effort will produce a new, large-scale database covering regional governance, economic conditions, and the presence of populist parties across EU subnational governments from 2009 to 2024. To enrich the theoretical framework, WP1 also conducts focus group interviews in selected regions.
LIBRAD aspires to deepen our understanding of populist transformations of public administration and bureaucratic reactions to it. LIBRAD introduces a fresh perspective on the study of democratic backsliding by focusing on how governments use the internal machinery of public administration, not just laws or constitutions, to advance political goals. It offers the first systematic, EU wide comparison of populist governance at the subnational level, where policy implementation is most visible and administrative discretion plays a decisive role. The project breaks new ground by examining administrative behaviour through an interactionist approach across different countries and administrative cultures. Through a social interactionist lens, LIBRAD seeks to move beyond traditional individual level explanations, highlighting the importance of peer dynamics, professional norms, and shared interpretations in shaping bureaucratic behaviour. Furthermore, LIBRAD enriches public administration research with much needed meso level analytical tools through generating a new comparative database on subnational governance and developing original theoretical insights. Finally, the project aims to inform civil service training and ethics education by emphasising the collaborative foundations of professional integrity.
WP2 examines how populist-led governments perform at the subnational level by building on the data prepared in WP1. Using the Quality of Government framework from the University of Gothenburg, which measures corruption control, impartiality, rule of law, and administrative effectiveness, the work package evaluates the effects of populist executives on both governance quality and economic outcomes. The analysis combines panel data models, time series approaches, and synthetic control methods to compare regions under populist rule with those performing better or worse. These results will provide the first systematic assessment of populism’s impact on subnational governance and economic performance, and they will guide the selection of regional case studies for the next phases of LIBRAD.
WP3 investigates how populist governments shape executive governance at the subnational level, moving beyond existing case studies to systematically measure changes inside public administrations. Using large-scale online surveys of civil servants and civil society actors, the work package will help identify whether and how illiberal strategies materialise in practice and how they relate to regional performance outcomes identified in WP2.
To ensure robust comparison, WP3 will survey governance insiders across roughly 50 regions. Moreover, targeting respondents in key policy areas such as education, health, law enforcement, and migration, the project will construct a composite measure of administrative transformation and compare patterns across different types of populism. Survey implementation will be supported by regional experts and a professional polling firm to guarantee access, data quality, and methodological rigor.
Building on an innovative social interactionist framework, WP4 explores how group dynamics, leadership behaviour, and feelings of obligation shape individual decisions in morally or technically ambiguous situations, going beyond traditional explanations focused solely on individual incentives or institutional structures. The work package combines two empirical strategies: a conjoint experiment embedded in the WP3 elite survey and around 120 semi structured interviews with regional government employees. By integrating quantitative and qualitative evidence, WP4 contributes a novel perspective to public administration research and deepens understanding of how bureaucrats respond to illiberal pressures.
WP5 brings together LIBRAD’s findings to create integrated outputs for both academic and practitioner communities. These include comparative datasets on subnational populist governance, scholarly publications advancing theories of executive governance and bureaucratic behaviour, and evidence-based insights into how public administrations withstand illiberal pressures. The purpose of the work package is translating this knowledge for practitioners, civil service trainers, and policymakers, thus helping clarify how organisational design and professional interaction can safeguard pluralism, accountability, and integrity in challenging political environments. To ensure practical impact, WP5 develops an “interactionist civil service ethics” framework and translates research results into accessible, actionable training materials. This includes a policy paper with recommendations for civil service education, clear summaries for use in ethics programs, and a Harvard-style teaching case on bureaucratic responses to morally complex decisions. Supported by the School of Transnational Governance at the EUI, these outputs will be piloted and refined for broader dissemination in executive training and master-level programs.