I am the Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF Professor in the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Georgia and a Professor II in the Center for Research on Extremism (C-REX) at the University of Oslo. I was born in the Netherlands, where I received my MA and PhD at Leiden University. Having held tenure-related positions at Central European University (Budapest, Hungary), the University of Edinburgh (UK), and the University of Antwerp (Belgium), I moved to the US in 2008, where I have been a Visiting Professor at the University of Oregon (2008-9), a Visiting Fellow at the University of Notre Dame (2009-10), and Nancy Schaenen Visiting Scholar (2010-11) and Hampton and Esther Boswell Distinguished University Professor of Political Science (2011-12) at DePauw University.

My primary research agenda is build around the crucial question: How can liberal democracies defend themselves against extremist challenges without undermining their own core values? Building upon an earlier developed typology of extremist challenges to liberal democracy, which distinguishes between the aims and means of the challengers, I aim to answer this question from both an empirical and normative perspective, looking for as well as developing 'best practices.'

My work is primarily conceptual and empirical in nature. After an initial focus on Western Europe, I have expanded my primary focus to both Eastern and Western Europe and developed a secondary interest in North and South America as well as Israel. The bulk of my research has been within the field of extremism and democracy, particularly populist radical right parties. Secondary interests include civil society, conceptualization, democracy and democratization, Euroskepticism, political parties, political ideologies, and social movements.

I am currently working (on and off) on a diverse set of research projects.

FAR RIGHT POLITICS IN THE 21ST CENTURY

This research agenda has two book projects. The first book will be the successor to "Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe", summarizing the key insights of the 2007 book, and elaborating upon underdeveloped aspects and new developments within the far right. The key focus is on far right politics in the 21st century, rather than the 20th century, although fundamental differences between the two periods will feature prominently. The aim is to make the new book less dense and more accessible to undergraduate students and non-academics while at the same time providing a critical state-of-the-art account of the still booming literature. The book is under contract with Cambridge University Press and is planned for 2020-21.

The second book is based on a collaborative research project on the youth branches of right-wing populist parties in Europe. To be written with Ann-Cathrine Jungar, Anders Jupskås, and Duncan McDonnell, this book will offer the first comparative study of youth branches of right-wing populist parties in Europe, focusing on the motivations of leaders and members alike, on the relationship between youth branch and mother party, and international connections between youth branches. It will draw on extensive original research, including interviews with (former) leaders of right-wing populist youth parties as well as surveys of members of party youth branches.

THE TRANSFORMATION OF EUROPEAN POLITICS

I am currently writing a popular academic book on the transformation(s) of European politics for Hurst Publishers. It focuses primarily on European politics in the 21st century, but looks at both long-term and short-term factor of political change. Aimed at a broader audience, as well as scholars of European politics, the book argues that European politics is fundamentally changing and that these changes are most likely long-term. To ensure that elite political opportunism and mass political dissatisfaction do not grow even further, we have to revise our expectations and evaluations and find more productive ways to deal with the fundamentally transformed political world. The book is a long term project and could take until 2025 or later.

DEFENDING DEMOCRACY?

This ongoing project critically analyzes how western democracies deal with (perceived) political threats and assesses whether the cure (state repression) is better or worse than the disease (the threat). I am focusing on state responses in North America and Europe to a broad range of (perceived) threats, including so-called anti-globalization movements, eco-terrorism, far right parties, and international terrorism.

OI! THE POLITICS

My side project, on which I work much less than I would want to, is a monograph that analyzes the main political positions expressed in Oi! music. The book will focus mainly on the political views of British Oi acts in the explosive period of the late 1970s and 1980s with political events like the miners strike and Margaret Thatcher's "iron rule".

BLOGS/OP-EDS

I am a columnist for the Guardian US and also regularly write for other publications, including the Hope not Hate magazine and VoxEurop. I am also active on Twitter. You can follow me at @casmudde

PODCAST: RADIKAAL

Since June 2020 I have a (now biweekly) podcast, called RADIKAAL (Dutch for Radical), in which I discuss the radical aspects of music, politics, and sports. In each show I interview one expert for about 20-30 minutes on a specific topic, ranging from British singer-songwriter Billy Bragg on music to politics to Philippine political scientist Nicole Curato on Rodrigo Duterte or Canadian activist-writer Shireen Ahmed on athlete activism. For more information: www.radikaalpodcast.com.