Lisa Zanotti
Comparative Political Scientist
Democracy · Public Opinion · Political Analysis
I study democratic risk, far-right politics, populism, polarization, and illiberal discourse across Europe and Latin America.
Alongside my academic work, I provide research-based advisory analysis on political change, electoral dynamics, democratic risk, and public debate.
About
Short Bio
I am 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 far-right politics, populism, democratic backsliding, polarization, and public opinion in Europe and Latin America. It sits at the intersection of party politics, discourse analysis, survey research, and computational text methods. I am especially interested in how illiberal and far-right actors adapt their messages across institutional contexts, and how political narratives reshape democratic competition before institutional change becomes fully visible.
Before CEU, I held positions at Diego Portales University in Santiago de Chile. I have published with Cambridge University Press, Routledge, and leading political science journals. I have also written commissioned analyses for foundations and policy organisations, including the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, FEPS, and CLACAI.
I regularly comment in European and international media on far-right politics, democratic erosion, elections, and political change in Europe and Latin America.
Research
Selected Publications
The Far Right in Latin America
C. Rovira Kaltwasser, C. Meléndez, T. Tanscheit & L. Zanotti (eds.)
Cambridge University Press
Open Access — download PDF
Two Faces of FascismForthcoming
C. Meléndez & L. Zanotti
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
If you'll be there 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, civic actors, policy organisations, media organisations, think tanks, and research teams.
My advisory work provides research-based analysis on democratic risk, electoral dynamics, public opinion, far-right politics, populism, polarization, illiberal discourse, and political narratives across Europe and Latin America.
Past commissioned work includes projects for the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, FEPS, and CLACAI.
Services include expert briefings, commissioned reports, rapid-response memos, recurring monitoring, trainings, debate preparation, rhetorical analysis, and custom corpus/discourse analysis.
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
Latest Press
Latest Press & Interviews
Governistas em xeque, violência e Trump: o que explica a nova guinada à direita da América do Sul
NewestEstadão, Brasil
Angst en onvrede stuwen nieuwe groei populistisch-rechts in Latijns-Amerika (Fear and discontent fuel new growth of populist right in Latin America)
Financieele Dagblad, Netherlands
Así fue como el voto exterior dio el triunfo a la derecha y la extrema derecha en Perú y Colombia
elDiario.es, España
Dos, tres, muchos Bukeles
Lo Que Importa · Daniel Matamala, Chile
América Latina: ¿la nueva derecha es un bloque o un espejismo?
FRANCE 24 Español, Francia
La 'bukelización' de América Latina: la victoria de De la Espriella confirma el giro a la ultraderecha de la región
RTVE, España
9 países en dos años: la nueva conversión ultra de América Latina
elDiario.es, España
Latin America's resurgent right notches another win in Colombia
AFP, Francia · syndicated in Barron's, France 24, Buenos Aires Times
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
🇦🇷 Patricio Pron, Lo que está y no se usa nos fulminará
Literatura Random House
🇬🇧 Simon Sebag Montefiore, Young Stalin
Weidenfeld & Nicolson
Books read in 2026(3)
- 🇬🇧 Florence Knapp, Los nombres
- 🇰🇷 Han Kang, Actos humanos
- 🇬🇧 Mohsin Hamid, Exit West
Contact
Work with me
Advisory / commissioned work
For organisations, foundations, campaigns, civic actors, policy teams, think tanks, media organisations, research teams, and other professional actors interested in paid advisory work, expert briefings, commissioned reports, trainings, monitoring, corpus analysis, or research-based political analysis.
Submit an advisory requestGeneral contact
For students, academic colleagues, journalists seeking short comments, invitations, and non-commercial enquiries.
General contact