Transnational flows: The impact of transatlantic conservative networks on Finnish and EU environmental, health and social policies

Application summary

International decision-making forums have increasingly become targets of right-wing populist approaches, not only towards migration but also in relation to climate change, gender equality, and broader health and social policies. These policies, often presented as “national sovereignty” concerns, are part of a wider libertarian, alt-right, and conservative agenda. Our research aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the transatlantic networks of nationalist and right-wing populist politics in the European Union and Finland between 2015 and 2025, and their impact on these policies. This period coincided with a rise in the far-right in the EU and the accession of the Finns party to the government coalition. While radical-right populist parties have sought to implement a chauvinist welfare state, research has mainly focused on the discriminatory discourses of these parties, and little has been done on the impact on environmental, health, and social policies. Our proposed project brings a novel focus specifically on the actors, institutions, and networks that have sought to influence democratic decision-making at the level of the European Union, including Finland as a member state, and their chosen strategies. It is an interdisciplinary project that involves policy analysis, process tracing, and historical analysis, combining perspectives from political science, gender studies, health sciences, and critical theory. We seek to examine i) who are the foreign actors that influence EU-level policies and what are their transatlantic links, ii) what are the key thematic areas targeted and how are they undermining democracy, and iii) what is the historical context of these opposition movements and how do these relate to earlier politics. Beyond our collaboration with scholars, the proposed project has the objective of engaging with practitioners via the production of policy briefs and specific resources for those working in media and education.