Populism and Global Economic Governance: Analyzing the Impact of Populist Parties on WTO Ministerial Dynamics

The global political landscape has experienced a noticeable rise in populist parties and governments over the past decades. This project seeks to investigate the influence of populist movements on global economic governance, with a particular focus on the World Trade Organization (WTO). Specifically, it explores how ministerial meetings at the WTO have evolved in response to the dominance of populist ideologies.
Populist parties often challenge traditional multilateral frameworks and emphasize national sovereignty, potentially disrupting the collaborative spirit that underpins organizations like the WTO. By examining ministerial statements and analyzing the composition of government cabinets, this project aims to shed light on whether and how these changes in political leadership influence the discourse and outcomes of WTO ministerial meetings.
Students participating in this project will collect and analyze data on WTO ministerial statements and the composition of government cabinets to identify patterns and shifts in rhetoric, and priorities. This study will contribute to a deeper understanding of the interplay between populist political trends and the functioning of global economic institutions. While data collection is an important part of the project, quantitative analysis will be used to evaluate this hypothesized impact of populist parties. Therefore, students will use Stata and R for, text analysis (NLP, topic modelling) and statistical analysis.