Lisa Zanotti
Comparative political scientist.
Far-right and democratic resilience in Europe and Latin America.
DISCOURSE ANALYSIS · POLITICAL ADVISORY · MIXED METHODS
About
Short Bio
I'm a comparative political scientist based at Central European University (CEU) in Budapest, and an associate researcher at Ultra-Lab, the Laboratory for the Study of the Far Right in Santiago de Chile.
My research focuses on the far right, populism, and democratic backsliding in Europe and Latin America. It sits at the intersection of party politics, discourse analysis, and computational text methods — I'm especially interested in how far-right movements adapt their messaging across different institutional contexts, and what that erosion of language means for democratic institutions before any policy changes.
Before CEU, I held positions at Diego Portales University in Santiago de Chile. I've published with Cambridge University Press, Routledge, and leading political science journals, and I have written commissioned analyses for foundations including the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, FEPS, and CLACAI. I take on selected applied projects in this area.
I'm a regular commentator in European and international media on far-right politics in Europe and Latin America.
Research
Selected Publications
The Far Right in Latin AmericaForthcoming
C. Rovira Kaltwasser, C. Meléndez, T. Tanscheit & L. Zanotti (eds.)
Cambridge University Press
Open Access starting 16 July 2026
Two Faces of FascismForthcoming
L. Zanotti & C. Meléndez
Cambridge University Press
VOX: The Rise of the Spanish Populist Radical Right
J. Rama, L. Zanotti, S. Turnbull-Dugarte & A. Santana
Routledge, 2021
Where to Find Me Next
LASA 2026
Paris · May 27–29, 2026
ECPR General Conference 2026
Jagiellonian University, Kraków · September 8–11, 2026
If you'll be at either event and would like to meet in person, feel free to get in touch.
Advisory & Policy Work
Research-Driven Advisory
Alongside my academic work, I take on selected applied projects for foundations, campaigns, and policy organisations working on democratic resilience, far-right monitoring, and the intersection with human-rights agendas. Past commissioned work includes projects for the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, FEPS, and CLACAI.
Organizations I've worked with
Additional research funders and academic partners include the Open Society Foundation, Ultra-lab, Diego Portales University, Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (ANID-CHILE), the British Academy, the CEU Democracy Institute.
Media & Talks
Selected Press
Selected Press & Interviews
A far-right candidate is the frontrunner in Chile's presidential election
NPR
Caída de la derecha tradicional y nuevos liderazgos: las claves del auge de la ultraderecha en Latinoamérica
El País
Radiografía de lo que une y separa a los votantes de la ultraderecha en Argentina, Brasil y Chile
El País
El auge de la ultraderecha y la encrucijada de la derecha convencional en Chile
CIPER Chile
Jara y Kast disputarán balotaje en Chile: ¿quién parte con ventaja?
RPP (Perú)
Conexión Global Prime: Silvio Berlusconi, vida, trayectoria y legado
CNN Chile
Lo Que Importa con Daniel Matamala
CNN Chile / YouTube
Off the Clock
What I'm Into in Real Life
Italian by birth, intellectually formed between Bologna, Buenos Aires, Leiden, and Santiago de Chile — which probably explains why everything I write ends up being comparative whether I want it or not.
I support Fiorentina, mostly as an exercise in patience and a personal pedagogy of disappointment management.
Currently Reading
Han Kang, Actos humanos
Random House — Human Acts
Simon Sebag Montefiore, Young Stalin
Weidenfeld & Nicolson